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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5799.txt b/5799.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cefeb56 --- /dev/null +++ b/5799.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20590 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 3 +by Leonard Huxley +(#3 in our series by Leonard Huxley) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 3 + +Author: Leonard Huxley + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5799] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 4, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY VOLUME 3 *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Sue Asscher asschers@bigpond.com + + + +LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY + +BY HIS SON + +LEONARD HUXLEY. + + + +IN THREE VOLUMES. + + +VOLUME 3. + + +(PLATE: PORTRAIT OF T.H. HUXLEY, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY DOWNEY, 1890. +MCQUEEN, SC.) + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER 3.1. 1887. + +CHAPTER 3.2. 1887. + +CHAPTER 3.3. 1888. + +CHAPTER 3.4. 1888. + +CHAPTER 3.5. 1889. + +CHAPTER 3.6. 1889-1890. + +CHAPTER 3.7. 1890-1891. + +CHAPTER 3.8. 1890-1891. + +CHAPTER 3.9. 1892. + +CHAPTER 3.10. 1892. + +CHAPTER 3.11. 1892. + +CHAPTER 3.12. 1893. + +CHAPTER 3.13. 1894. + +CHAPTER 3.14. 1895. + +CHAPTER 3.15. + +CHAPTER 3.16. 1895. + +APPENDIX 1. + +APPENDIX 2. + +APPENDIX 3. + +APPENDIX 4. + +INDEX. + + + + +CHAPTER 3.1. + +1887. + +[The first half of 1887, like that of the preceding year, was chequered +by constant returns of ill-health.] "As one gets older," [he writes in +a New Year's letter to Sir J. Donnelly, "hopes for oneself get more +moderate, and I shall be content if next year is no worse than the +last. Blessed are the poor in spirit!" [The good effects of the visit +to Arolla had not outlasted the winter, and from the end of February he +was obliged to alternate between London and the Isle of Wight. + +Nevertheless, he managed to attend to a good deal of business in the +intervals between his periodic flights to the country, for he continued +to serve on the Royal Society Council, to do some of the examining work +at South Kensington, and to fight for the establishment of adequate +Technical Education in England. He attended the Senate and various +committees of the London University and of the Marine Biological +Association. + +Several letters refer to the proposal--it was the Jubilee year--to +commemorate the occasion by the establishment of the Imperial +Institute. To this he gladly gave his support; not indeed to the merely +social side; but in the opportunity of organising the practical +applications of science to industry he saw the key to success in the +industrial war of the future. Seconding the resolution proposed by Lord +Rothschild at the Mansion House meeting on January 12, he spoke of the +relation of industry to science--the two great developments of this +century. Formerly practical men looked askance at science, "but within +the last thirty years, more particularly," continues the report in +"Nature" (volume 33 page 265) "that state of things had entirely +changed. There began in the first place a slight flirtation between +science and industry, and that flirtation had grown into an intimacy, +he must almost say courtship, until those who watched the signs of the +times saw that it was high time that the young people married and set +up an establishment for themselves. This great scheme, from his point +of view, was the public and ceremonial marriage of science and +industry." + +Proceeding to speak of the contrast between militarism and +industrialism, he asked whether, after all, modern industry was not war +under the forms of peace. The difference was the difference between +modern and ancient war, consisting in the use of scientific weapons, of +organisation and information. The country, he concluded, had dropped +astern in the race for want of special education which was obtained +elsewhere by the artisan. The only possible chance for keeping the +industry of England at the head of the world was through organisation. + +Writing on January 18, to Mr. Herbert Spencer, who had sent him some +proofs of his Autobiography to look through, he says:--] + +I see that your proofs have been in my hands longer than I thought for. +But you may have seen that I have been "starring" at the Mansion House. + +This was not exactly one of those bits of over-easiness to pressure +with which you reproach me--but the resultant of a composition of +pressures, one of which was the conviction that the "Institute" might +be made into something very useful and greatly wanted--if only the +projectors could be made to believe that they had always intended to do +that which your humble servant wants done--that is the establishment of +a sort of Royal Society for the improvement of industrial knowledge and +an industrial university--by voluntary association. + +I hope my virtue may be its own reward. For except being knocked up for +a day or two by the unwonted effort, I doubt whether there will be any +other. The thing has fallen flat as a pancake, and I greatly doubt +whether any good will come of it. Except a fine in the shape of a +subscription, I hope to escape further punishment for my efforts to be +of use. + +[However, this was only the beginning of his campaign. + +On January 27, a letter from him appeared in the "Times," guarding +against a wrong interpretation of his speech, in the general +uncertainty as to the intentions of the proposers of the scheme.] + +I had no intention [he writes] of expressing any enthusiasm on behalf +of the establishment of a vast permanent bazaar. I am not competent to +estimate the real utility of these great shows. What I do see very +clearly is that they involve difficulties of site, huge working +expenses, the potentiality of endless squabbles, and apparently the +cheapening of knighthood. + +[As for the site proposed at South Kensington,] "the arguments used in +its favour in the report would be conclusive if the dry light of reason +were the sole guide of human action." [But it would alienate other +powerful and wealthy bodies, which were interested in the Central +Institute of the City and Guilds Technical Institute,] "which looks so +portly outside and is so very much starved inside." + +[He wrote again to the "Times" on March 21:--] + +The Central Institute is undoubtedly a splendid monument of the +munificence of the city. But munificence without method may arrive at +results indistinguishably similar to those of stinginess. I have been +blamed for saying that the Central Institute is "starved." Yet a man +who has only half as much food as he needs is indubitably starved, even +though his short rations consist of ortolans and are served upon gold +plate. + +[Only half the plan of operations as drawn up by the Committee was, or +could be, carried out on existing funds. + +The later part of his letter was printed by the Committee as defining +the functions of the new Institute:--] + +That with which I did intend to express my strong sympathy was the +intention which I thought I discerned to establish something which +should play the same part in regard to the advancement of industrial +knowledge which has been played in regard to science and learning in +general, in these realms, by the Royal Society and the Universities...I +pictured the Imperial Institute to myself as a house of call for all +those who are concerned in the advancement of industry; as a place in +which the home-keeping industrial could find out all he wants to know +about colonial industry and the colonist about home industry; as a sort +of neutral ground on which the capitalist and the artisan would be +equally welcome; as a centre of intercommunication in which they might +enter into friendly discussion of the problems at issue between them, +and, perchance, arrive at a friendly solution of them. I imagined it a +place in which the fullest stores of industrial knowledge would be made +accessible to the public; in which the higher questions of commerce and +industry would be systematically studied and elucidated; and where, as +in an industrial university, the whole technical education of the +country might find its centre and crown. If I earnestly desire to see +such an institution created, it is not because I think that or anything +else will put an end to pauperism and want--as somebody has absurdly +suggested,--but because I believe it will supply a foundation for that +scientific organisation of our industries which the changed conditions +of the times render indispensable to their prosperity. I do not think I +am far wrong in assuming that we are entering, indeed, have already +entered, upon the most serious struggle for existence to which this +country has ever been committed. The latter years of the century +promise to see us embarked in an industrial war of far more serious +import than the military wars of its opening years. On the east, the +most systematically instructed and best-informed people in Europe are +our competitors; on the west, an energetic offshoot of our own stock, +grown bigger than its parent, enters upon the struggle possessed of +natural resources to which we can make no pretension, and with every +prospect of soon possessing that cheap labour by which they may be +effectually utilised. Many circumstances tend to justify the hope that +we may hold our own if we are careful to "organise victory." But to +those who reflect seriously on the prospects of the population of +Lancashire and Yorkshire--should the time ever arrive when the goods +which are produced by their labour and their skill are to be had +cheaper elsewhere--to those who remember the cotton famine and reflect +how much worse a customer famine would be, the situation appears very +grave. + +[On February 19 and 22, he wrote again to the "Times" declaring against +the South Kensington site. It was too far from the heart of commercial +organisation in the city, and the city people were preparing to found a +similar institution of their own. He therefore wished to prevent the +Imperial Institute from becoming a weak and unworthy memorial of the +reign. + +A final letter to the "Times" on March 21, was evoked by the fact that +Lord Hartington, in giving away the prizes at the Polytechnic Y.M.C.A., +had adopted Huxley's position as defined in his speech, and declared +that science ought to be aided on precisely the same grounds on which +we aid the army and navy. + +In this letter he asks, how do we stand prepared for the task thus +imperatively set us? We have the machinery for providing instruction +and information, and for catching capable men, but both in a disjointed +condition]--"all mere torsos--fine, but fragmentary." "The ladder from +the School Board to the Universities, about which I dreamed dreams many +years ago, has not yet acquired much more substantiality than the +ladder of Jacob's vision," [but the Science and Art Department, the +Normal School of Science, and the Central Institute only want the means +to carry out the recommendations already made by impartial and +independent authority.] "Economy does not lie in sparing money, but in +spending it wisely." + +[He concluded with an appeal to Lord Hartington to take up this task of +organising industrial education and bring it to a happy issue. + +A proposal was also made to the Royal Society to co-operate, and Sir M. +Foster writes on February 19: "We have appointed a Committee to +consider and draw up a draft reply with a view of the Royal Society +following up your letter." + +To this Huxley replied on the 22nd:--] + +...My opinion is that the Royal Society has no right to spend its money +or pledge its credit for any but scientific objects, and that we have +nothing to do with sending round the hat for other purposes. + +The project of the Institute Committee as it stands connected with the +South Kensington site--is condemned by all the city people and will +receive none but the most grudging support from them. They are going to +set up what will be practically an Institute of their own in the city. + +The thing is already a failure. I daresay it will go on and be +varnished into a simulacrum of success--to become eventually a ghost +like the Albert Hall or revive as a tea garden. + +[The following letter also touches upon the function of the Institute +from the commercial side:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, February 20, 1887. + +My dear Donnelly, + +Mr. Law's suggestion gives admirable definition to the notions that +were floating in my mind when I wrote in my letter to the "Times", that +I imagined the Institute would be a "place in which the fullest stores +of industrial knowledge would be made accessible to the public." A man +of business who wants to know anything about the prospects of trade +with, say, Boorioboola-Gha (vide Bleak House) ought to be able to look +into the Institute and find there somebody who will at once fish out +for him among the documents in the place all that is known about +Boorioboola. + +But a Commercial Intelligence Department is not all that is wanted, +vide valuable letter aforesaid. + +I hope your appetite for the breakfast was none the worse for last +night's doings--mine was rather improved, but I am dog-tired. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I return Miss --'s note. she evidently thinks my cage is labelled +"These animals bite." + +[Later in the year, the following letters show him continuing the +campaign. But an attack of pleurisy, which began the very day of the +Jubilee, prevented him from coming to speak at a meeting upon Technical +Education. In the autumn, however, he spoke on the subject at +Manchester, and had the satisfaction of seeing the city "go solid," as +he expressed it, for technical education. The circumstances of this +visit are given later.] + +4 Marlborough Place, May 1, 1887. + +My dear Roscoe, + +I met Lord Hartington at the Academy Dinner last night and took the +opportunity of urging upon him the importance of following up his +technical education speech. He told me he had been in communication +with you about the matter, and he seemed to me to be very well disposed +to your plans. + +I may go on crying in the wilderness until I am hoarse, with no result, +but if he and you and Mundella will take it up, something may be done. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, June 28, 1887. + +My dear Roscoe, + +Donnelly was here on Sunday and was quite right up to date. I felt I +ought to be better, and could not make out why the deuce I was not. +Yesterday the mischief came out. There is a touch of pleurisy--which +has been covered by the muscular rheumatism. + +So I am relegated to bed and told to stop there--with the company of +cataplasms to keep me lively. + +I do not think the attack in any way serious--but M. Pl. is a gentleman +not to be trifled with, when you are over sixty, and there is nothing +for it but to obey my doctor's orders. + +Pray do not suppose I would be stopped by a trifle, if my coming to the +meeting [Of July 1, on Technical Education.] would really have been of +use. I hope you will say how grieved I am to be absent. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, June 29, 1887. + +My dear Roscoe, + +I have scrawled a variety of comments on the paper you sent me. Deal +with them as you think fit. + +Ever since I was on the London School Board I have seen that the key of +the position is in the Sectarian Training Colleges and that wretched +imposture, the pupil teacher system. As to the former Delendae sunt no +truce or pact to be made with them, either Church or Dissenting. Half +the time of their students is occupied with grinding into their minds +their tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee theological idiocies, and the other +half in cramming them with boluses of other things to be duly spat out +on examination day. Whatever is done do not let us be deluded by any +promises of theirs to hook on science or technical teaching to their +present work. + +I am greatly disgusted that I cannot come to Tyndall's dinner +to-night--but my brother-in-law's death would have stopped me (the +funeral to-day)--even if my doctor had not forbidden me to leave my +bed. He says I have some pleuritic effusion on one side and must mind +my P's and Q's. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[A good deal of correspondence at this time with Sir M. Foster relates +to the examinations of the Science and Art Department. He was still +Dean, it will be remembered, of the Royal College of Science, and +further kept up his connection with the Department by acting in an +honorary capacity as Examiner, setting questions, but less and less +looking over papers, acting as the channel for official communications, +as when he writes (April 24),] "I send you some Department +documents--nothing alarming, only more worry for the Assistant +Examiners, and that WE do not mind"; and finally signing the Report. +But to do this after taking so small a share in the actual work of +examining, grew more and more repugnant to him, till on October 12 he +writes:--] + +I will read the Report and sign it if need be--though there really must +be some fresh arrangement. + +Of course I have entire confidence in your judgment about the +examination, but I have a mortal horror of putting my name to things I +do not know of my own knowledge. + +[In addition to these occupations, he wrote a short paper upon a +fossil, Ceratochelys, which was read at the Royal Society on March 31; +while on April 7 he read at the Linnean ("Botany" volume 24 pages +101-124), his paper, "The Gentians: Notes and Queries," which had +sprung from his holiday amusement at Arolla. + +Philosophy, however, claimed most of his energies. The campaign begun +in answer to the incursion of Mr. Lilly was continued in the article +"Science and Pseudo-Scientific Realism" ("Collected Essays" 5 59-89) +which appeared in the "Nineteenth Century" for February 1887. The text +for this discourse was the report of a sermon by Canon Liddon, in which +that eminent preacher spoke of catastrophes as the antithesis of +physical law, yet possible inasmuch as a "lower law" may be "suspended" +by the "intervention of a higher," a mode of reasoning which he applied +to the possibility of miracles such as that of Cana. + +The man of science was up in arms against this incarnation of abstract +terms, and offered a solemn protest against that modern recrudescence +of ancient realism which speaks of "laws of nature" as though they were +independent entities, agents, and efficient causes of that which +happens, instead of simply our name for observed successions of facts. + +Carefully as all personalities had been avoided in this article, it +called forth a lively reply from the Duke of Argyll, rebuking him for +venturing to criticise the preacher, whose name was now brought forward +for the first time, and raising a number of other questions, +philosophical, geological, and biological, to which Huxley rejoined +with some selections from the authentic history of these points in +"Science and Pseudo-Science" ("Nineteenth Century" April 1887, +"Collected Essays" 5 90-125). + +Moreover, judging from the vivacity of the duke's reply that some of +the shafts of the first article must have struck nearer home than the +pulpit of St. Paul's, he was induced to read "The Reign of Law," the +second chapter of which, dealing with the nature of "Law," he now +criticised sharply as] "a sort of 'summa' of pseudo-scientific +philosophy," [with its confusions of law and necessity, law and force,] +"law in the sense, not merely of a rule, but of a cause." [(Cf. his +treatment of the subject 24 years before, volume 1.) + +He wound up with some banter upon the Duke's picture of a scientific +Reign of Terror, whereby, it seemed, all men of science were compelled +to accept the Darwinian faith, and against which Huxley himself was +preparing to rebel, as if:--] + +Forsooth, I am supposed to be waiting for the signal of "revolt," which +some fiery spirits among these young men are to raise before I dare +express my real opinions concerning questions about which we older men +had to fight in the teeth of fierce public opposition and obloquy--of +something which might almost justify even the grandiloquent epithet of +a Reign of Terror--before our excellent successors had left school. + +[Here for a while the debate ceased. But in the September number of the +"Nineteenth Century" the Duke of Argyll returned to the fray with an +article called "A Great Lesson," in which he attempted to offer +evidence in support of his assertions concerning the scientific reign +of terror. The two chief pieces of evidence adduced were Bathybius and +Dr. (now Sir J.) Murray's theory of coral reefs. The former was +instanced as a blunder due to the desire of finding support for the +Darwinian theory in the existence of this widespread primordial life; +the latter as a case in which a new theory had been systematically +burked, for fear of damaging the infallibility of Darwin, who had +propounded a different theory of coral reefs! + +Huxley's reply to this was contained in the latter half of an article +which appeared in the "Nineteenth Century" for November 1887, under the +title of "Science and the Bishops" (reprinted both in "Controverted +Questions" and in the "Collected Essays" 5 126, as "An Episcopal +Trilogy"). Preaching at Manchester this autumn, during the meeting of +the British Association, the Bishops of Carlisle, Bedford, and +Manchester had spoken of science not only with knowledge, but in the +spirit of equity and generosity.] "These sermons," [he exclaims,] "are +what the Germans call Epochemachend!" + +How often was it my fate [he continues], a quarter of a century ago, to +see the whole artillery of the pulpit brought to bear upon the doctrine +of evolution and its supporters! Any one unaccustomed to the amenities +of ecclesiastical controversy would have thought we were too wicked to +be permitted to live. + +[After thus welcoming these episcopal advances, he once more repudiated +the a priori argument against the efficacy of prayer, the theme of one +of the three sermons, and then proceeded to discuss another sermon of a +dignitary of the Church, which had been sent to him by an unknown +correspondent, for] "there seems to be an impression abroad--I do not +desire to give any countenance to it--that I am fond of reading +sermons." + +[Now this preacher was of a very different mind from the three bishops. +Instead of dwelling upon the "supreme importance of the purely +spiritual in our faith," he warned his hearers against dropping off any +of the miraculous integument of their religion. "Christianity is +essentially miraculous, and falls to the ground if miracles be +impossible." He was uncompromisingly opposed to any accommodation with +advancing knowledge, or with the high standard of veracity, enforced by +the nature of their pursuits, in which Huxley found the only difference +between scientific men and any other class of the community. + +But it was not merely this misrepresentation of science on its +speculative side which Huxley deplored; he was roused to indignation by +an attack on its morality. The preacher reiterated the charge brought +forward in the "Great Lesson," that Dr. Murray's theory of coral reefs +had been actually suppressed for two years, and that by the advice of +those who accepted it, for fear of upsetting the infallibility of the +great master. + +Hereupon he turned in downright earnest upon the originator of the +assertion, who, he considered, had no more than the amateur's knowledge +of the subject. A plain statement of the facts was refutation enough. +The new theories, he pointed out, had been widely discussed; they had +been adopted by some geologists, although Darwin himself had not been +converted, and after careful and prolonged re-examination of the +question, Professor Dana, the greatest living authority on coral reefs, +had rejected them. As Professor Judd said, "If this be a 'conspiracy of +silence,' where, alas! can the geological speculator seek for fame?" +Any warning not to publish in haste was but advice to a still unknown +man not to attack a seemingly well-established theory without making +sure of his ground. (Letter in "Nature.") + +As for the Bathybius myth, Huxley pointed out that his announcement of +the discovery had been simply a statement of the actual facts, and that +so far from seeing in it a confirmation of Darwinian hypotheses, he was +careful to warn his readers] "to keep the questions of fact and the +questions of interpretation well apart." "That which interested me in +the matter," he says, "was the apparent analogy of Bathybius with other +well-known forms of lower life,"..."if Bathybius were brought up alive +from the bottom of the Atlantic to-morrow, the fact would not have the +slightest bearing, that I can discern, upon Mr. Darwin's speculations, +or upon any of the disputed problems of biology." [And as for his] +"eating the leek" [afterwards, his ironical account of it is an +instance of how the adoption of a plain, straightforward course can be +described without egotism.] + +The most considerable difference I note among men [he concludes] is not +in their readiness to fall into error, but in their readiness to +acknowledge these inevitable lapses. + +[As the Duke in a subsequent article did not unequivocally withdraw his +statements, Huxley declined to continue public controversy with him. + +Three years later, writing (October 10, 1890) to Sir J. Donnelly +apropos of an article by Mr. Mallock in the "Nineteenth Century," which +made use of the "Bathybius myth," he says:--] + +Bathybius is far too convenient a stick to beat this dog with to be +ever given up, however many lies may be needful to make the weapon +effectual. + +I told the whole story in my reply to the Duke of Argyll, but of course +the pack give tongue just as loudly as ever. Clerically-minded people +cannot be accurate, even the liberals. + +[I give here the letter sent to the "unknown correspondent" in +question, who had called his attention to the fourth of these sermons.] + +4 Marlborough Place, September 30, 1887. + +I have but just returned to England after two months' absence, and in +the course of clearing off a vast accumulation of letters, I have come +upon yours. + +The Duke of Argyll has been making capital out of the same +circumstances as those referred to by the Bishop. I believe that the +interpretation put upon the facts by both is wholly misleading and +erroneous. + +It is quite preposterous to suppose that the men of science of this or +any other country have the slightest disposition to support any view +which may have been enunciated by one of their colleagues, however +distinguished, if good grounds are shown for believing it to be +erroneous. + +When Mr. Murray arrived at his conclusions I have no doubt he was +advised to make his ground sure before he attacked a generalisation +which appeared so well founded as that of Mr. Darwin respecting coral +reefs. + +If he had consulted me I should have given him that advice myself, for +his own sake. And whoever advised him, in that sense, in my opinion did +wisely. + +But the theologians cannot get it out of their heads, that as they have +creeds, to which they must stick at all hazards, so have the men of +science. There is no more ridiculous delusion. We, at any rate, hold +ourselves morally bound to "try all things and hold fast to that which +is good"; and among public benefactors, we reckon him who explodes old +error, as next in rank to him who discovers new truth. + +You are at liberty to make any use you please of this letter. + +[Two letters on kindred subjects may appropriately follow in this +place. Thanking M. Henri Gadeau de Kerville for his "Causeries sur le +Transformisme," he writes (February 1):--] + +Dear Sir, + +Accept my best thanks for your interesting "causeries," which seem to +me to give a very clear view of the present state of the evolution +doctrine as applied to biology. + +There is a statement on page 87 "Apres sa mort Lamarck fut completement +oublie," which may be true for France but certainly is not so for +England. From 1830 onwards for more than forty years Lyell's +"Principles of Geology" was one of the most widely read scientific +books in this country, and it contains an elaborate criticism of +Lamarck's views. Moreover, they were largely debated during the +controversies which arose out of the publication of the "Vestiges of +Creation" in 1844 or thereabouts. We are certainly not guilty of any +neglect of Lamarck on this side of the Channel. + +If I may make another criticism it is that, to my mind, atheism is, on +purely philosophical grounds, untenable. That there is no evidence of +the existence of such a being as the God of the theologians is true +enough; but strictly scientific reasoning can take us no further. Where +we know nothing we can neither affirm nor deny with propriety. + +[The other is in answer to the Bishop of Ripon, enclosing a few lines +on the principal representatives of modern science, which he had asked +for.] + +4 Marlborough Place, June 16, 1887. + +My dear Bishop of Ripon, + +I shall be very glad if I can be of any use to you now and always. But +it is not an easy task to put into half-a-dozen sentences, up to the +level of your vigorous English, a statement that shall be unassailable +from the point of view of a scientific fault-finder--which shall be +intelligible to the general public and yet accurate. + +I have made several attempts and enclose the final result. I think the +substance is all right, and though the form might certainly be +improved, I leave that to you. When I get to a certain point of +tinkering my phrases I have to put them aside for a day or two. + +Will you allow me to suggest that it might be better not to name any +living man? The temple of modern science has been the work of many +labourers not only in our own but in other countries. Some have been +more busy in shaping and laying the stones, some in keeping off the +Sanballats, some prophetwise in indicating the course of the science of +the future. It would be hard to say who has done best service. As +regards Dr. Joule, for example, no doubt he did more than any one to +give the doctrine of the conservation of energy precise expression, but +Mayer and others run him hard. + +Of deceased Englishmen who belong to the first half of the Victorian +epoch, I should say that Faraday, Lyell, and Darwin had exerted the +greatest influence, and all three were models of the highest and best +class of physical philosophers. + +As for me, in part from force of circumstance and in part from a +conviction I could be of most use in that way, I have played the part +of something between maid-of-all-work and gladiator-general for +Science, and deserve no such prominence as your kindness has assigned +to me. + +With our united kind regards to Mrs. Carpenter and yourself, ever yours +very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[A brief note, also, to Lady Welby, dated July 25, is characteristic of +his attitude towards unverified speculation.] + +I have looked through the paper you have sent me, but I cannot +undertake to give any judgment upon it. Speculations such as you deal +with are quite out of my way. I get lost the moment I lose touch of +valid fact and incontrovertible demonstration and find myself wandering +among large propositions, which may be quite true but which would +involve me in months of work if I were to set myself seriously to find +out whether, and in what sense, they are true. Moreover, at present, +what little energy I possess is mortgaged to quite other occupations. + +[The following letter was in answer to a request which I was +commissioned to forward him, that he would consent to serve on an +honorary committee of the Societe des Professeurs de Francais en +Angleterre.] + +January 17, 1887. + +I quite forgot to say anything about the Comite d'honneur, and as you +justly remark in the present strained state of foreign politics the +consequences may be serious. Please tell your colleague that I shall be +"proud an' 'appy." You need not tell him that my pride and happiness +are contingent on having nothing to do for the honour. + +[In the meantime, the ups and downs of his health are reflected in +various letters of these six months. Much set up by his stay in the +Isle of Wight, he writes from Shanklin on April 11 to Sir E. Frankland, +describing the last meeting of the x Club, which the latter had not +been able to attend, as he was staying in the Riviera:--] + +Hooker, Tyndall, and I alone turned up last Thursday. Lubbock had gone +to High Elms about used up by the House of Commons, and there was no +sign of Hirst. + +Tyndall seemed quite himself again. In fact, we three old fogies voted +unanimously that we were ready to pit ourselves against any three +youngsters of the present generation in walking, climbing, or +head-work, and give them odds. + +I hope you are in the same comfortable frame of mind. + +I had no notion that Mentone had suffered so seriously in the +earthquake of 1887. Moral for architects: read your Bible and build +your house upon the rock. + +The sky and sea here may be fairly matched against Mentone or any other +of your Mediterranean places. Also the east wind, which has been +blowing steadily for ten days, and is nearly as keen as the Tramontana. +Only in consequence of the long cold and drought not a leaf is out. + +[Shanklin, indeed, suited him so well that he had half a mind to settle +there.] "There are plenty of sites for building," [he writes home in +February,] "but I have not thought of commencing a house yet." +[However, he gave up the idea; Shanklin was too far from town. + +But though he was well enough as long as he kept out of London, a +return to his life there was not possible for any considerable time. On +May 19, just before a visit to Mr. F. Darwin at Cambridge, I find that +he went down to St. Albans for a couple of days, to walk; and on the +27th he betook himself, terribly ill and broken down, to the Savernake +Forest Hotel, in hopes of getting] "screwed up." [This] "turned out a +capital speculation, a charming spick-and-span little country hostelry +with great trees in front." [But the weather was persistently bad,] +"the screws got looser rather than tighter," [and again he was +compelled to stay away from the x. + +A week later, however, he writes:--] + +The weather has been detestable, and I got no good till yesterday, +which was happily fine. Ditto to-day, so I am picking up, and shall +return to-morrow, as, like an idiot as I am, I promised to take the +chair at a public meeting about a Free Library for Marylebone on +Tuesday evening. + +I wonder if you know this country. I find it charming. + +[On the same day as that which was fixed for the meeting in favour of +the Free Library, he had a very interesting interview with the Premier, +of which he left the following notes, written at the Athenaeum +immediately after:--] + +June 7, 1887. + +Called on Lord Salisbury by appointment at 3 p.m., and had twenty +minutes' talk with him about the "matter of some public interest" +mentioned in his letter of the [29th]. + +This turned out to be a proposal for the formal recognition of +distinguished services in Science, Letters, and Art by the institution +of some sort of order analogous to the Pour le Merite. Lord Salisbury +spoke of the anomalous present mode of distributing honours, intimated +that the Queen desired to establish a better system, and asked my +opinion. + +I said that I should like to separate my personal opinion from that +which I believed to obtain among the majority of scientific men; that I +thought many of the latter were much discontented with the present +state of affairs, and would highly approve of such a proposal as Lord +Salisbury shadowed forth. + +That, so far as my own personal feeling was concerned, it was opposed +to anything of the kind for Science. I said that in Science we had two +advantages--first, that a man's work is demonstrably either good or +bad; and secondly, that the "contemporary posterity" of foreigners +judges us, and rewards good work by membership of Academies and so +forth. + +In Art, if a man chooses to call Raphael a dauber, you can't prove he +is wrong; and literary work is just as hard to judge. + +I then spoke of the dangers to which science is exposed by the undue +prominence and weight of men who successfully apply scientific +knowledge to practical purposes--engineers, chemical inventors, etc., +etc.; said it appeared to me that a Minister having such order at his +disposal would find it very difficult to resist the pressure brought by +such people as against the man of high science who had not happened to +have done anything to strike the popular mind. + +Discussed the possibility of submission of names by somebody for the +approval and choice of the Crown. For Science, I thought the Royal +Society Council might discharge that duty very fairly. I thought that +the Academy of Berlin presented people for the Pour le Merite, but Lord +Salisbury thought not. + +In the course of conversation I spoke of Hooker's case as a glaring +example of the wrong way of treating distinguished men. Observed that +though I did not personally care for or desire the institution of such +honorary order, yet I thought it was a mistake in policy for the Crown +as the fountain of honour to fail in recognition of that which deserves +honour in the world of Science, Letters, and Art. + +Lord Salisbury smilingly summed up. "Well, it seems that you don't +desire the establishment of such an order, but that if you were in my +place you would establish it," to which I assented. + +Said he had spoken to Leighton, who thought well of the project. + +[It was not long, however, before he received imperative notice to quit +town with all celerity. He fell ill with what turned out to be +pleurisy; and after recruiting at Ilkley, went again to Switzerland.] + +4 Marlborough Place, June 27, 1887. + +My dear Foster, + +...I am very sorry that it will be impossible for me to attend [the +meeting of committee down for the following Wednesday]. If I am well +enough to leave the house I must go into the country that day to attend +the funeral of my wife's brother-in-law and my very old friend Fanning, +of whom I may have spoken to you. He has been slowly sinking for some +time, and this morning we had news of his death. + +Things have been very crooked for me lately. I had a conglomerate of +engagements of various degrees of importance in the latter half of last +week, and had to forgo them all, by reason of a devil in the shape of +muscular rheumatism of one side, which entered me last Wednesday, and +refuses to be wholly exorcised (I believe it is my Jubilee Honour). +[(On the same day he describes this to Sir J. Evans:--] "I have hardly +been out of the house as far as my garden, and not much off my bed or +sofa since I saw you last. I have had an affection of the muscles of +one side of my body, the proper name of which I do not know, but the +similitude thereof is a bird of prey periodically digging in his claws +and stopping your breath in a playful way.") Along with it, and I +suppose the cause of it, a regular liver upset. I am very seedy yet, +and even if Fanning's death had not occurred I doubt if I should have +been ready to face the Tyndall dinner. + +[The reference to this "Tyndall dinner" is explained in the following +letters, which also refer to a meeting of the London University, in +which the projects of reform which he himself supported met with a +smart rebuff.] + +4 Marlborough Place, May 13, 1887. + +My dear Tyndall, + +I am very sorry to hear of your gout, but they say when it comes out at +the toes it flies from the better parts, and that is to the good. + +There is no sort of reason why unsatisfied curiosity should continue to +disturb your domestic hearth; your wife will have the gout too if it +goes on. "They" can't bear the strain. + +The history of the whole business is this. A day or two before I spoke +to you, Lockyer told me that various people had been talking about the +propriety of recognising your life-long work in some way or other; +that, as you would not have anything else, a dinner had been suggested, +and finally asked me to inquire whether you would accept that +expression of goodwill. Of course I said I would, and I asked +accordingly. + +After you had assented I spoke to several of our friends who were at +the Athenaeum, and wrote to Lockyer. I believe a strong committee is +forming, and that we shall have a scientific jubilation on a large +scale; but I have purposely kept in the background, and confined +myself, like Bismarck, to the business of "honest broker." + +But of course nothing (beyond preliminaries) can be done till you name +the day, and at this time of year it is needful to look well ahead if a +big room is to be secured. So if you can possibly settle that point, +pray do. + +There seems to have been some oversight on my wife's part about the +invitation, but she is stating her own case. We go on a visit to Mrs. +Darwin to Cambridge on Saturday week, and the Saturday after that I am +bound to be at Eton. + +Moreover, I have sacrificed to the public Moloch so far as to promise +to take the chair at a public meeting in favour of a Free Library for +Marylebone on the 7th. As Wednesday's work at the Geological Society +and the soiree knocked me up all yesterday, I shall be about finished I +expect on the 8th. If you are going to be at Hindhead after that, and +would have us for a day, it would be jolly; but I cannot be away long, +as I have some work to finish before I go abroad. + +I never was so uncomfortable in my life, I think, as on Wednesday when +L-- was speaking, just in front of me, at the University. Of course I +was in entire sympathy with the tenor of his speech, but I was no less +certain of the impolicy of giving a chance to such a master of polished +putting-down as the Chancellor. You know Mrs. Carlyle said that Owen's +sweetness reminded her of sugar of lead. Granville's was that plus +butter of antimony! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +N.B.--Don't swear, but get Mrs. Tyndall, who is patient and +good-tempered, to read this long screed. + +May 18, 1887. + +My dear Tyndall, + +I was very glad to get your letter yesterday morning, and I conveyed +your alteration at once to Rucker, who is acting as secretary. I asked +him to communicate with you directly to save time. + +I hear that the proposal has been received very warmly by all sorts and +conditions of men, and that is quite apart from any action of your +closer personal friends. Personally I am rather of your mind about the +"dozen or score" of the faithful. But as that was by no means to the +mind of those who started the project, and, moreover, might have given +rise to some heartburning, I have not thought it desirable to meddle +with the process of spontaneous combustion. So look out for a big +bonfire somewhere in the middle of June! I have a hideous cold, and can +only hope that the bracing air of Cambridge, where we go on Saturday, +may set me right. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[To recover from his pleuritic "Jubilee Honour" he went for a fortnight +(July 11-25) to Ilkley, which had done him so much good before, +intending to proceed to Switzerland as soon as he conveniently could.] + +Ilkley, July 15, 1887. + +My dear Foster, + +I was very much fatigued by the journey here, but the move was good, +and I am certainly mending, though not so fast as I could wish. I +expect some adhesions are interfering with my bellows. As soon as I am +fit to travel I am thinking of going to Lugano, and thence to Monte +Generoso. The travelling is easy to Lugano, and I know the latter place. + +My notion is I had better for the present avoid the chances of a wet, +cold week in the high places. + +M.B.A. [Marine Biological Association]...As to the employment of the +Grant, I think it ought to be on something definite and limited. The +Pilchard question would be an excellent one to take up. + +-- seems to have a notion of employing it on some geological survey of +Plymouth Sound, work that would take years and years to do properly, +and nothing in the way of clear result to show. + +I hope to be in London on my way abroad in less than ten days' time, +and will let you know. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And on the same day to Sir J. Donnelly:--] + +I expect...that I shall have a slow convalescence. Lucky it is no worse! + +Much fighting I am likely to do for the Unionist cause or any other! +But don't take me for one of the enrages. If anybody will show me a way +by which the Irish may attain all they want without playing the devil +with us, I am ready to give them their own talking-shop or anything +else. + +But that is as much writing as I can sit up and do all at once. + + +CHAPTER 3.2. + +1887. + +[On the last day of July he left England for Switzerland, and did not +return till the end of September. A second visit to Arolla worked a +great change in him. He renewed his Gentian studies also, with +unflagging ardour. The following letters give some idea of his doings +and interests:--] + +Hotel du Mont Collon, Arolla, Switzerland, August 28, 1887. + +My dear Foster, + +I know you will be glad to hear that I consider myself completely set +up again. We went to the Maderaner Thal and stayed a week there. But I +got no good out of it. It is charmingly pretty, but damp; and, +moreover, the hotel was 50 per cent too full of people, mainly +Deutschers, and we had to turn out into the open air after dinner +because the salon and fumoir were full of beds. So, in spite of all +prudential considerations, I made up my mind to come here. We travelled +over the Furca, and had a capital journey to Evolena. Thence I came on +muleback (to my great disgust, but I could not walk a bit uphill) here. +I began to get better at once; and in spite of a heavy snowfall and +arctic weather a week ago, I have done nothing but mend. We have +glorious weather now, and I can take almost as long walks as last year. + +We have some Cambridge people here: Dr. Peile of Christ's and his +family. Also Nettleship of Oxford. What is the myth about the Darwin +tree in the "Pall Mall"? ["A tree planted yesterday in the centre of +the circular grass plot in the first court of Christ's College, in +Darwin's honour, was 'spirited' away at night."--"Pall Mall Gazette" +August 23, 1887.] Dr. Peile believes it to be all a flam. + +Forel has just been paying a visit to the Arolla glacier for the +purpose of ascertaining the internal temperature. He told me he much +desired to have a copy of the Report of the Krakatoa Committee. If it +is published, will you have a copy sent to him? He is Professor at +Lausanne, and a very good man. + +Our stay here will depend on the weather. At present it is perfect. I +do not suppose we shall leave before 7th or 8th of September, and we +shall get home by easy stages not much before the end of the month. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Madder than ever on Gentians. + +[The following is in reply to Sir E. Frankland's inquiries with +reference to the reported presence of fish in the reservoirs of one of +the water-companies.] + +Hotel Righi Vaudois, Glion, September 16, 1887. + +We left Arolla about ten days ago, and after staying a day at St. +Maurice in consequence of my wife's indisposition, came on here where +your letter just received has followed me. I am happy to say I am quite +set up again, and as I can manage my 1500 or 2000 feet as well as ever, +I may be pretty clear that my pleurisy has not left my lung sticking +anywhere. + +I will take your inquiries seriatim. (1) The faith of your small +boyhood is justified. Eels do wander overland, especially in the wet +stormy nights they prefer for migration. But so far as I know this is +the habit only of good-sized, downwardly-moving eels. I am not aware +that the minute fry take to the land on their journey upwards. + +(2) Male eels are now well known. I have gone over the evidence myself +and examined many. But the reproductive organs of both sexes remain +undeveloped in fresh water--just the contrary of salmon, in which they +remain undeveloped in salt water. + +(3) So far as I know, no eel with fully-developed reproductive organs +has yet been seen. Their matrimonial operations go on in the sea where +they spend their honeymoon, and we only know the result in the shape of +the myriads of thread-like eel-lets, which migrate up in the well-known +"eel-fare." + +(4) On general principles of eel-life I think it is possible that the +Inspector's theory MAY be correct. But your story about the roach is a +poser. They certainly do not take to walking abroad. It reminds me of +the story of the Irish milk-woman who was confronted with a stickleback +found in the milk. "Sure, then, it must have been bad for the poor cow +when that came through her teat." + +Surely the Inspector cannot have overlooked such a crucial fact as the +presence of other fish in the reservoirs? + +We shall be here another week, and then move slowly back to London. I +am loth to leave this place, which is very beautiful with splendid air +and charming walks in all directions--two or three thousand feet up if +you like. + +Hotel Righi Vaudois, Glion, Switzerland, September 16, 1887. + +My dear Donnelly, + +We left Arolla for this place ten days ago, but my wife fell ill, and +we had to stay a day at St. Maurice. She has been more or less out of +sorts ever since until to-day. However, I hope now she is all right +again. + +This is a very charming place at the east end of the Lake of +Geneva--1500 feet above the lake--and you can walk 3000 feet higher up +if you like. + +What they call a "funicular railway" hauls you up a gradient of 1 in 1 +3/4 from the station on the shore in ten minutes. At first the +sensation on looking down is queer, but you soon think nothing of it. +The air is very fine, the weather lovely, the feeding unexceptionable, +and the only drawback consists in the "javelins," as old Francis Head +used to call them--stinks of such wonderful crusted flavour that they +must have been many years in bottle. But this is a speciality of all +furrin parts that I have ever visited. + +I am very well and extremely lazy so far as my head goes--legs I am +willing to use to any extent up hill or down dale. They wanted me to go +and speechify at Keighley in the middle of October, but I could not get +permission from the authorities. Moreover, I really mean to keep quiet +and abstain even from good words (few or many) next session. My wife +joins with me in love to Mrs. Donnelly and yourself. + +She thought she had written, but doubts whether in the multitude of her +letters she did not forget. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[From Glion also he writes to Sir M. Foster:--] + +I have been doing some very good work on the Gentians in the interests +of the business of being idle. + +[The same subject recurs in the next letter:--] + +Hotel Righi Vaudois, Glion, Switzerland, September 21, 1887. + +My dear Hooker, + +I saw in the "Times" yesterday the announcement of Mr. Symond's death. +I suppose the deliverance from so painful a malady as heart-disease is +hardly to be lamented in one sense; but these increasing gaps in one's +intimate circle are very saddening, and we feel for Lady Hooker and +you. My wife has been greatly depressed in hearing of Mrs. Carpenter's +fatal disorder. One cannot go away for a few weeks without finding some +one gone on one's return. + +I got no good at the Maderaner Thal, so we migrated to our old quarters +at Arolla, and there I picked up in no time, and in a fortnight could +walk as well as ever. So if there are any adhesions they are pretty +well stretched by this time. + +I have been at the Gentians again, and worked out the development of +the flower in G. purpurea and G. campestris. The results are very +pretty. They both start from a thalamifloral condition, then become +corollifloral, G. purpurea at first resembling G. lutea and G. +campestris, an Ophelia, and then specialise to the Ptychantha and +Stephanantha forms respectively. + +In G. campestris there is another very curious thing. The anthers are +at first introrse, but just before the bud opens they assume this +position [sketch] and then turn right over and become extrorse. In G. +purpurea this does not happen, but the anthers are made to open +outwards by their union on the inner side of the slits of dehiscence. + +There are several other curious bits of morphology have turned up, but +I reserve them for our meeting. + +Beyond pottering away at my Gentians and doing a little with that +extraordinary Cynanchum I have been splendidly idle. After three weeks +of the ascetic life of Arolla, we came here to acclimatise ourselves to +lower levels and to fatten up. I go straight through the table d'hote +at each meal, and know not indigestion. + +My wife has fared not so well, but she is all right again now. We go +home by easy stages, and expect to be in Marlborough Place on Tuesday. + +With all our best wishes to Lady Hooker and yourself. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The second visit to Arolla did as much good as the first. Though +unable to stay more than a week or two in London itself, he was greatly +invigorated. His renewed strength enabled him to carry out vigorously +such work as he had put his hand to, and still more, to endure one of +the greatest sorrows of his whole life which was to befall him this +autumn in the death of his daughter Marian. + +The controversy which fell to his share immediately upon his return, +has already been mentioned. This was all part of the war for science +which he took as his necessary portion in life; but he would not plunge +into any other forms of controversy, however interesting. So he writes +to his son, who had conveyed him a message from the editor of a +political review:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, October 19, 1887. + +No political article from me! I have had to blow off my indignation +incidentally now and then lest worse might befall me, but as to serious +political controversy, I have other fish to fry. Such influence as I +possess may be most usefully employed in promoting various educational +movements now afoot, and I do not want to bar myself from working with +men of all political parties. + +So excuse me in the prettiest language at your command to Mr. A. + +[Nevertheless politics very soon drew him into a new conflict, in +defence, be it said, of science against the possible contamination of +political influences. Professor (now Sir) G.G. Stokes, his successor in +the chair of the Royal Society, accepted an invitation from the +University of Cambridge to stand for election as their member of +Parliament, and was duly elected. This was a step to which many Fellows +of the Royal Society, and Huxley in especial, objected very strongly. +Properly to fulfil the duties of both offices at once was, in his +opinion, impossible. It might seem for the moment an advantage that the +accredited head of the scientific world should represent its interests +officially in Parliament; but the precedent was full of danger. Science +being essentially of no party, it was especially needful for such a +representative of science to keep free from all possible entanglements; +to avoid committing science, as it were, officially to the policy of a +party, or, as its inevitable consequence, introducing political +considerations into the choice of a future President. + +During his own tenure of the Presidency Huxley had carefully abstained +from any official connection with societies are public movements on +which the feeling of the Royal Society was divided, lest as a body it +might seem committed by the person and name of its President. He +thought it a mistake that his successor should even be President of the +Victoria Institute. + +Thus there is a good deal in his correspondence bearing on this matter. +He writes on November 6 to Sir J. Hooker:--] + +I am extremely exercised in my mind about Stokes' going into Parliament +(as a strong party man, moreover) while still P.R.S. I do not know what +you may think about it, but to my mind it is utterly wrong--and +degrading to the Society--by introducing politics into its affairs. + +[And on the same day to Sir M. Foster:--] + +I think it is extremely improper for the President of the Royal Society +to accept a position as a party politician. As a Unionist I should vote +for him if I had a vote for Cambridge University, but for all that I +think it is most lamentable that the President of the Society should be +dragged into party mud. + +When I was President I refused to take the Presidency of the Sunday +League, because of the division of opinion on the subject. Now we are +being connected with the Victoria Institute, and sucked into the slough +of politics. + +[These considerations weighed heavily with several both of the older +and the younger members of the Society; but the majority were +indifferent to the dangers of the precedent. The Council could not +discuss the matter; they waited in vain for an official announcement of +his election from the President, while he, as it turned out, expected +them to broach the subject. + +Various proposals were discussed; but it seemed best that, as a +preliminary to further action, an editorial article written by Huxley +should be inserted in "Nature," indicating what was felt by a section +of the Society, and suggesting that resignation of one of the two +offices was the right solution of the difficulty. + +Finally, it seemed that perhaps, after all, a] "masterly inactivity" +[was the best line of action. Without risk of an authoritative decision +of the Society] "the wrong way," [out of personal regard for the +President, the question would be solved for him by actual experience of +work in the House of Commons, where he would doubtless discover that he +must] "renounce either science, or politics, or existence." + +This campaign, however, against a principle, was carried on without any +personal feeling. The perfect simplicity of the President's attitude +would have disarmed the hottest opponent, and indeed Huxley took +occasion to write him the following letter, in reference to which he +writes to Dr. Foster:--] "I hate doing things in the dark and could not +stand it any longer." + +December 1, 1887. + +My dear Stokes, + +When we met in the hall of the Athenaeum on Monday evening I was on the +point of speaking to you on a somewhat delicate topic; namely, my +responsibility for the leading article on the Presidency of the Royal +Society and politics which appeared a fortnight ago in "Nature." But I +was restrained by the reflection that I had no right to say anything +about the matter without the consent of the Editor of "Nature." I have +obtained that consent, and I take the earliest opportunity of availing +myself of my freedom. + +I should have greatly preferred to sign the article, and its anonymity +is due to nothing but my strong desire to avoid the introduction of any +personal irrelevancies into the discussion of a very grave question of +principle. + +I may add that as you are quite certain to vote in the way that I think +right on the only political questions which greatly interest me, my +action has not been, and cannot be, in any way affected by political +feeling. + +And as there is no one of whom I have a higher opinion as a man of +science--no one whom I should be more glad to serve under, and to +support year after year in the Chair of the Society, and no one for +whom I entertain feelings of more sincere friendship---I trust you will +believe that, if there is a word in the article which appears +inconsistent with these feelings, it is there by oversight, and is +sincerely regretted. + +During the thirty odd years we have known one another, we have often +had stout battles without loss of mutual kindness. My chief object in +troubling you with this letter is to express the hope that, whatever +happens, this state of things may continue. + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +P.S.--I am still of opinion that it is better that my authorship should +not be officially recognised, but you are, of course, free to use the +information I have given you in any way you may think fit. + +[To this the President returned a very frank and friendly reply; saying +he had never dreamed of any incompatibility existing between the two +offices, and urging that the Presidency ought not to constrain a man to +give up his ordinary duties as a citizen. He concludes:-- + +And now I have stated my case as it appears to myself; let me assure +you that nothing that has passed tends at all to diminish my friendship +towards you. My wife heard last night that the article was yours, and +told me so. I rather thought it must have been written by some hot +Gladstonian. It seems, however, that her informant was right. She +wishes me to tell you that she replied to her informant that she felt +quite sure that if you wrote it, it was because you thought it. + +To which Huxley replied:--] + +I am much obliged for your letter, which is just such as I felt sure +you would write. + +Pray thank Mrs. Stokes for her kind message. I am very grateful for her +confidence in my uprightness of intention. + +We must agree to differ. + +It may be needful for me and those who agree with me to place our +opinions on record; but you may depend upon it that nothing will be +done which can suggest any lack of friendship or respect for our +President. + +[It will be seen from this correspondence and the letter to Sir J. +Donnelly of July 15, that Huxley was a staunch Unionist. Not that he +considered the actual course of English rule in Ireland ideal; his main +point was that under the circumstances the establishment of Home Rule +was a distinct betrayal of trust, considering that on the strength of +Government promises, an immense number of persons had entered into +contracts, had bought land, and staked their fortunes in Ireland, who +would be ruined by the establishment of Home Rule. Moreover, he held +that the right of self-preservation entitled a nation to refuse to +establish at its very gates a power which could, and perhaps would, be +a danger to its own existence. Of the capacity of the Irish peasant for +self-government he had no high opinion, and what he had seen of the +country, and especially the great central plain, in his frequent visits +to Ireland, convinced him that the balance between subsistence and +population would speedily create a new agrarian question, whatever +political schemes were introduced. This was one of] "the only political +questions which interested him." + +[Towards the end of October he left London for Hastings, partly for his +own, but still more for his wife's sake, as she was far from well. He +was still busy with one or two Royal Society Committees, and came up to +town occasionally to attend their meetings, especially those dealing +with the borings in the Delta, and with Antarctic exploration. Thus he +writes:--] + +11 Eversfield Place, Hastings, October 31, 1887. + +My dear Foster, + +We have been here for the last week, and are likely to be here for some +time, as my wife, though mending, is getting on but slowly, and she +will be as well out of London through beastly November. I shall be up +on Thursday and return on Friday, but I do not want to be away longer, +as it is lonesome for the wife. + +I quite agree to what you propose on Committee, so I need not be there. +Very glad to hear that the Council "very much applauded what we had +done," and hope we shall get the 500 pounds. + +I don't believe a word in increasing whale fishery, but scientifically, +the Antarctic expedition would, or might be very interesting, and if +the colonies will do their part, I think we ought to do ours. + +You won't want me at that Committee either. Hope to see you on Thursday. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hideous pen! + +[But he did not come up that Thursday. His wife was for a time too ill +to be left, and he winds up the letter of November 2 to Dr. Foster with +the reflection:--] + +Man is born to trouble as the sparks, etc.--but when you have come to +my time of life you will say as I do--Lucky it is no worse. + +November 6. + +I am very glad to hear that the 500 pounds is granted, and I will see +to what is next to be done as soon as I can. Also I am very glad to +find you don't want my valuable service on Council Royal Society. I +repented me of my offer when I thought how little I might be able to +attend. + +[One thing, however, afforded him great pleasure at this time. He +writes on November 6 to his old friend, Sir J. Hooker:--] + +I write just to say what infinite satisfaction the award of the Copley +Medal to you has given me. If you were not my dear old friend, it would +rejoice me as a mere matter of justice--of which there is none too much +in this "-- rum world," as Whitworth's friend called it. + +[To the reply that the award was not according to rule, inasmuch as it +was the turn for the medal to be awarded in another branch of science, +he rejoins:--] + +I had forgotten all about the business--but he had done nothing to +deserve the Copley, and all I can say is that if the present award is +contrary to law, the "law's a hass" as Mr. Bumble said. But I don't +believe that it is. + +[He replies also on November 5 to a clerical correspondent who had +written to him on the distinction between sheretz and rehmes, and +accused him of "wilful blindness" in his theological controversy of +1886:--] + +Let me assure you that it is not my way to set my face against being +convinced by evidence. + +I really cannot hold myself to be responsible for the translators of +the Revised Version of the Old Testament. If I had given a translation +of the passage to which you refer on my own authority, any mistake +would be mine, and I should be bound to acknowledge it. As I did not, I +have nothing to admit. I have every respect for your and Mr. --'s +authority as Hebraists, but I have noticed that Hebrew scholars are apt +to hold very divergent views, and before admitting either your or Mr. +--'s interpretation, I should like to see the question fully discussed. + +If, when the discussion is concluded, the balance of authority is +against the revised version, I will carefully consider how far the +needful alterations may affect the substance of the one passage in my +reply to Mr. Gladstone which is affected by it. + +At present I am by no means clear that it will make much difference, +and in no case will the main lines of my argument as to the antagonism +between modern science and the Pentateuch be affected. The statements I +have made are public property. If you think they are in any way +erroneous I must ask you to take upon yourself the same amount of +responsibility as I have done, and submit your objections to the same +ordeal. + +There is nothing like this test for reducing things to their true +proportions, and if you try it, you will probably discover, not without +some discomfort, that you really had no reason to ascribe wilful +blindness to those who do not agree with you. + +[He was now preparing to complete his campaign of the spring on +technical education by delivering an address to the Technical Education +Association at Manchester on November 29, and looked forward to +attending the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society on his way home +next day, and seeing the Copley medal conferred upon his old friend, +Sir J. Hooker. However, unexpected trouble befell him. First he was +much alarmed about his wife, who had been ill more or less ever since +leaving Arolla. Happily it turned out that there was nothing worse than +could be set right by a slight operation. But nothing had been done +when news came of the sudden death of his second daughter on November +19.] "I have no heart for anything just now," [he writes; nevertheless, +he forced himself to fulfil this important engagement at Manchester, +and in the end the necessity of bracing himself for the undertaking +acted on him as a tonic. + +It is a trifle, perhaps, but a trifle significant of the disturbance of +mind that could override so firmly fixed a habit, that the two first +letters he wrote after receiving the news are undated; almost the only +omission of the sort I have found in all his letters of the last +twenty-five years of his life. + +His daughter's long illness had left him without hope for months past, +but this, as he confessed, did not mend matters much. In his letters to +his two most intimate friends, he recalls her brilliant promise, her +happy marriage, her] "faculty for art, which some of the best artists +have told me amounted to genius." [But he was naturally reticent in +these matters, and would hardly write of his own griefs unbidden even +to old friends.] + +85 Marina, St. Leonards, November 21, 1887. + +My dear Spencer, + +You will not have forgotten my bright girl Marian, who married so +happily and with such bright prospects half a dozen years ago? + +Well, she died three days ago of a sudden attack of pneumonia, which +carried her off almost without warning. And I cannot convey to you a +sense of the terrible sufferings of the last three years better than by +saying that I, her father, who loved her well, am glad that the end has +come thus... + +My poor wife is well nigh crushed by the blow. For though I had lost +hope, it was not in the nature of things that she should. + +Don't answer this--I have half a mind to tear it up--for when one is in +a pool of trouble there is no sort of good in splashing other people. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[As for his plans, he writes to Sir J. Hooker on November 21:--] + +I had set my heart on seeing you get the Copley on the 30th. In fact, I +made the Manchester people, to whom I had made a promise to go down and +address the Technical Education Association, change their day to the +29th for that reason. + +I cannot leave them in the lurch after stirring up the business in the +way I have done, and I must go and give my address. But I must get back +to my poor wife as fast as I can, and I cannot face any more publicity +than that which it would be cowardly to shirk just now. So I shall not +be at the Society except in the spirit. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And again to Sir M. Foster:--] + +You cannot be more sorry than I am that I am going to Manchester, but I +am not proud of chalking up "no popery" and running away--for all +Evans' and your chaff--and, having done a good deal to stir up the +Technical Education business and the formation of the Association, I +cannot leave them in the lurch when they urgently ask for my services... + +The Delta business must wait till after the 30th. I have no heart for +anything just now. + +[The letters following were written in answer to letters of sympathy.] + +85 Marina, St. Leonards, November 25, 1887. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +Let me thank you on my wife's behalf and my own for your very kind and +sympathetic letter. + +My poor child's death is the end of more than three years of suffering +on her part, and deep anxiety on ours. I suppose we ought to rejoice +that the end has come, on the whole, so mercifully. But I find that +even I, who knew better, hoped against hope, and my poor wife, who was +unfortunately already very ill, is quite heart-broken. Otherwise, she +would have replied herself to your very kind letter. + +She has never yet learned the art of sparing herself, and I find it +hard work to teach her. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[In the same strain he writes to Dr. Dyster:--] + +Rationally we must admit that it is best so. But then, whatever +Linnaeus may say, man is not a rational animal--especially in his +parental capacity. + +85, Marina, St. Leonards, November 25, 1887. + +My dear Knowles, + +I really must thank you very heartily for your letter. It went to our +hearts and did us good, and I know you will like to learn that you have +helped us in this grievous time. + +My wife is better, but fit for very little; and I do not let her write +a letter even, if I can help it. But it is a great deal harder to keep +her from doing what she thinks her duty than to get most other people +to do what plainly is their duty. + +With our kindest love and thanks to all of you. + +Ever, my dear Knowles, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Yes, you are quite right about "loyal." I love my friends and hate my +enemies, which may not be in accordance with the Gospel, but I have +found it a good wearing creed for honest men. + +[The "Address on behalf of the National Association for the Promotion +of Technical Education," first published in the ensuing number of +"Science and Art," and reprinted in "Collected Essays," 3 427-451, was +duly delivered in Manchester, and produced a considerable effect. + +He writes to Sir M. Foster, December 1:--] + +I am glad I resisted the strong temptation to shirk the business. +Manchester has gone solid for technical education, and if the idiotic +London papers, instead of giving half a dozen lines of my speech, had +mentioned the solid contributions to the work announced at the meeting, +they would have enabled you to understand its importance. + +...I have the satisfaction of having got through a hard bit of work, +and am none the worse physically--rather the better for having to pull +myself together. + +[And to Sir J. Hooker:--] + +85 Marina, St. Leonards, December 4, 1887. + +My dear Hooker, + +x = 8, 6.30. I meant to have written to ask you all to put off the x +till next Thursday, when I could attend, but I have been so bedevilled +I forgot it. I shall ask for a bill of indemnity. + +I was rather used up yesterday, but am picking up. In fact my +Manchester journey convinced me that there was more stuff left than I +thought for. I travelled 400 miles, and made a speech of fifty minutes +in a hot, crowded room, all in about twelve hours, and was none the +worse. Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle have now gone in for +technical education on a grand scale, and the work is practically done. +Nunc dimittis! + +I hear great things of your speech at the dinner. I wish I could have +been there to hear it... + +[Of the two following letters, one refers to the account of Sir J.D. +Hooker's work in connection with the award of the Copley medal; the +other, to Hooker himself, touches a botanical problem in which Huxley +was interested.] + +St. Leonards, November 25, 1887. + +My dear Foster, + +...I forget whether in the notice of Hooker's work you showed me there +was any allusion made to that remarkable account of the Diatoms in +Antarctic ice, to which I once drew special attention, but Heaven knows +where? + +Dyer perhaps may recollect all about the account in the "Flora +Antarctica," if I mistake not. I have always looked upon Hooker's +insight into the importance of these things and their skeletons as a +remarkable piece of inquiry--anticipative of subsequent deep sea work. + +Best thanks for taking so much trouble about H--. Pray tell him if ever +you write that I have not answered his letter only because I awaited +your reply. He may think my silence uncivil... + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +To Sir J.D. Hooker. + +4 Marlborough Place, December 29, 1887. + +Where is the fullest information about distribution of Coniferae? Of +course I have looked at "Genera Plantarum" and De Candolle. + +I have been trying to make out whether structure or climate or +paleontology throw any light on their distribution--and am drawing +complete blank. Why the deuce are there no Conifers but Podocarpus and +Widringtonias in all Africa south of the Sahara? And why the double +deuce are about three-quarters of the genera huddled together in Japan +and northern China? + +I am puzzling over this group because the paleontological record is +comparatively so good. + +I am beginning to suspect that present distribution is an affair rather +of denudation than migration. + +Sequoia! Taxodium! Widringtonia! Araucaria! all in Europe, in Mesozoic +and Tertiary. + +[The following letters to Mr. Herbert Spencer were written as sets of +proofs of his Autobiography arrived. That to Sir J. Skelton was to +thank him for his book on "Maitland of Lethington," the Scotch +statesman of the time of Queen Mary.] + +January 18, 1887. + +[The first part of this letter is given above.] + +My dear Spencer, + +I see that your proofs have been in my hands longer than I thought for. +But you may have seen that I have been "starring" at the Mansion +House... + +I am immensely tickled with your review of your own book. That is +something most originally Spencerian. I have hardly any suggestions to +make, except in what you say about the "Rattlesnake" work and my +position on board. + +Her proper business was the survey of the so-called "inner passage" +between the Barrier Reef and the east coast of Australia; the New +Guinea work was a hors d'oeuvre, and dealt with only a small part of +the southern coast. + +Macgillivray was naturalist--I was actually Assistant-Surgeon and +nothing else. But I was recommended to Stanley by Sir John Richardson, +my senior officer at Haslar, on account of my scientific proclivities. +But scientific work was no part of my duty. How odd it is to look back +through the vista of years! Reading your account of me, I had the +sensation of studying a fly in amber. I had utterly forgotten the +particular circumstance that brought us together. Considering what +wilful tykes we both are (you particularly), I think it is a great +credit to both of us that we are firmer friends now than we were then. +Your kindly words have given me much pleasure. + +This is a deuce of a long letter to inflict upon you, but there is more +coming. The other day a Miss --, a very good, busy woman of whom I and +my wife have known a little for some years, sent me a proposal of the +committee of a body calling itself the London Liberty League (I think) +that I should accept the position of one of three honorary something or +others, you and Mrs. Fawcett being the other two. + +Now you may be sure that I should be glad enough to be associated with +you in anything; but considering the innumerable battles we have fought +over education, vaccination, and so on, it seemed to me that if the +programme of the League were wide enough to take us both for +figure-heads, it must be so elastic as to verge upon infinite +extensibility; and that one or other of us would be in a false position. + +So I wrote to Miss -- to that effect, and the matter then dropped. + +Misrepresentation is so rife in this world that it struck me I had +better tell you exactly what happened. + +On the whole, your account of your own condition is encouraging; not +going back is next door to going forward. Anyhow, you have contrived to +do a lot of writing. + +We are all pretty flourishing, and if my wife does not get worn out +with cooks falling ill and other domestic worries, I shall be content. + +Now this really is the end. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, London, N.W., March 7, 1887. + +My dear Skelton [This letter is one of the twelve from T.H.H. already +published by Sir John Skelton in his "Table Talk of Shirley" page 295 +sq.], + +Wretch that I am, I see that I have never had the grace to thank you +for "Maitland of Lethington" which reached me I do not choose to +remember how long ago, and which I read straight off with lively +satisfaction. + +There is a paragraph in your preface, which I meant to have charged you +with having plagiarised from an article of mine, which had not appeared +when I got your book. In that Hermitage of yours, you are up to any +Esotericobuddhistotelepathic dodge! + +It is about the value of practical discipline to historians. Half of +them know nothing of life, and still less of government and the ways of +men. + +I am quite useless, but have vitality enough to kick and scratch a +little when prodded. + +I am at present engaged on a series of experiments on the thickness of +skin of that wonderful little wind-bag --. The way that second rate +amateur poses as a man of science, having authority as a sort of +papistical Scotch dominie, bred a minister, but stickit, really "rouses +my corruption." What a good phrase that is. I am cursed with a lot of +it, and any fool can strike ile. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Please remember me very kindly to Mrs. Skelton. + +11 Eversfield Place, Hastings, November 18, 1887. + +My dear Spencer, + +I was very glad to get your letter this morning. I heard all about you +from Hirst before I left London, now nearly a month ago, and I promised +myself that instead of bothering you with a letter I would run over +from here and pay you a visit. + +Unfortunately, my wife, who had been ill more or less ever since we +left Arolla and came here on Clark's advice, had an attack one night, +which frightened me a good deal, though it luckily turned out to arise +from easily remediable causes. + +Under these circumstances you will understand how I have not made my +proposed journey to Brighton. + +I am rejoiced to hear of your move. I believe in the skill of Dr. B. +Potter and her understanding of the case more than I do in all the +doctors and yourself put together. Please offer my respectful homage to +that eminent practitioner. + +You see people won't let me alone, and I have had to tell the Duke to +"keep on board his own ship," as the Quaker said, once more. I seek +peace, but do not ensue it. + +Send any quantity of proofs, they are a good sign. By the way, we move +to 85 Marina, St. Leonards, to-morrow. + +Wife sends her kind regards. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +85 Marina, St. Leonards, December 1887. + +My dear Spencer, + +I have nothing to criticise in the enclosed except that the itineraries +seem to me rather superfluous. + +I am glad to find that you forget things that have happened to you as +completely as I do. I should cut almost as bad a figure as "Sir Roger" +if I were cross-examined about my past life. + +Your allusion to sending me the proofs made me laugh by reminding me of +a particularly insolent criticism with which I once favoured you: "No +objection except to the whole." + +It was some piece of diabolical dialectics, in which I could pick no +hole, if the premises were granted--and even then could be questioned +only by an ultra-sceptic! + +Do you see that the American Association of Authors has adopted a +Resolution, which is a complete endorsement of my view of the +stamp-swindle? + +We have got our operation over, and my wife is going on very well. +Overmuch anxiety has been telling on me, but I shall throw it off. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.3. + +1888. + +[Huxley had returned to town before Christmas, for the house in St. +John's Wood was still the rallying-point for the family, although his +elder children were now married and dispersed. But he did not stay +long.] "Wife wonderfully better," [he writes to Sir M. Foster on +January 8,] "self as melancholy as a pelican in the wilderness." [He +meant to have left London on the 16th, but his depressed condition +proved to be the beginning of a second attack of pleurisy, and he was +unable to start for Bournemouth till the 24th. + +Here, however, his recovery was very slow. He was unable to come up to +the first meeting of the x Club.] "I trust," [he writes,] "I shall be +able to be at the next x--but I am getting on very slowly. I can't walk +above a couple of miles without being exhausted, and talking for twenty +minutes has the same effect. I suppose it is all Anno Domini." + +[But he had a pleasant visit from one of the x, and writes:--] + +Casalini, West Cliff, Bournemouth, January 29, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +Spencer was here an hour ago as lively as a cricket. He is going back +to town on Tuesday to plunge into the dissipations of the Metropolis. I +expect he will insist on you all going to Evans' (or whatever +represents that place to our descendants) after the x. + +Bellows very creaky--took me six weeks to get them mended last time, so +I suppose I may expect as long now. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[As appears from the letters which follow, he had been busied with +writing an article for the "Nineteenth Century," for February, on the +"Struggle for Existence" ("Collected Essays" 9 195.), which on the one +hand ran counter to some of Mr. Herbert Spencer's theories of society; +and on the other, is noticeable as briefly enunciating the main thesis +of his "Romanes Lecture" of 1893.] + +85 Marina, St. Leonards, December 13, 1887. + +My dear Knowles, + +I have to go to town to-morrow for a day, so that puts an end to the +possibility of getting my screed ready for January. Altogether it will +be better to let it stand over. + +I do not know whence the copyright extract came, except that, as +Putnam's name was on the envelope, I suppose they sent it. + +Pearsall Smith's practice is a wonderful commentary on his theory. +Distribute the contents of the baker's shop gratis--it will give people +a taste for bread! + +Great is humbug, and it will prevail, unless the people who do not like +it hit hard. The beast has no brains, but you can knock the heart out +of him. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, January 9, 1888. + +My dear Donnelly, + +Here is my proof. Will you mind running your eye over it? + +The article is long, and partly for that reason and partly because the +general public wants principles rather than details, I have condensed +the practical half. + +H. Spencer and "Jus" will be in a white rage with me. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[To Professor Frankland, February 6:--] + +I am glad you like my article. There is no doubt it is rather like a +tadpole, with a very big head and a rather thin tail. But the subject +is a ticklish one to deal with, and I deliberately left a good deal +suggested rather than expressed. + +Casalini, West Cliff, Bournemouth, February 9, 1888. + +My dear Donnelly, + +No! I don't think softening has begun yet--vide "Nature" this week. +["Nature" 37 337 for February 9, 1888: review of his article in the +"Nineteenth Century" on the "Industrial Struggle for Existence."] I am +glad you found the article worth a second go. I took a vast of trouble +(as the country folks say) about it. I am afraid it has made Spencer +very angry--but he knows I think he has been doing mischief this long +time. + +Bellows to mend! Bellows to mend! I am getting very tired of it. If I +walk two or three miles, however slowly, I am regularly done for at the +end of it. I expect there has been more mischief than I thought for. + +How about the Bill? + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[However, he and Mr. Spencer wrote their minds to each other on the +subject, and as Huxley remarks with reference to this occasion,] "the +process does us both good, and in no way interferes with our +friendship." + +[The letter immediately following, to Mr. Romanes, answers an inquiry +about a passage quoted from Huxley's writings by Professor Schurman in +his "Ethical Import of Darwinism." This passage, made up of sentences +from two different essays, runs as follows:--] + +It is quite conceivable that every species tends to produce varieties +of a limited number and kind, and that the effect of natural selection +is to favour the development of some of these, while it opposes the +development of others along their predetermined line of modification. +("Collected Essays" 2 223.) A whale does not tend to vary in the +direction of producing feathers, nor a bird in the direction of +producing whalebone. (In "Mr. Darwin's Critics" 1871 "Collected Essays" +2 181.) + +"On the strength of these extracts" (writes Mr. Romanes), "Schurman +represents you 'to presuppose design, since development takes place +along certain predetermined lines of modification.' But as he does not +give references, and as I do not remember the passages, I cannot +consult the context, which I fancy must give a different colouring to +the extracts." + +4 Marlborough Place, January 5, 1888. + +My dear Romanes, + +They say that liars ought to have long memories. I am sure authors +ought to. I could not at first remember where the passage Schurman +quotes occurs, but I did find it in the Encyclopaedia Britannica +article on "Evolution" ["Collected Essays" 2 223.], reprinted in +"Science and Culture," page 307. + +But I do not find anything about the "whale" here. Nevertheless I have +a consciousness of having said something of the kind somewhere. [In +"Mr. Darwin's Critics" 1871 "Collected Essays" 2 181.] + +If you look at the whole passage, you will see that there is not the +least intention on my part to presuppose design. + +If you break a piece of Iceland spar with a hammer, all the pieces will +have shapes of a certain kind, but that does not imply that the Iceland +spar was constructed for the purpose of breaking up in this way when +struck. The atomic theory implies that of all possible compounds of A +and B only those will actually exist in which the proportions of A and +B by weight bear a certain numerical ratio. But it is mere arguing in a +circle to say that the fact being so is evidence that it was designed +to be so. + +I am not going to take any more notice of the everlasting D--, as you +appropriately call him, until he has withdrawn his slanders.... + +Pray give him a dressing--it will be one of those rare combinations of +duty and pleasure. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[He was, moreover, constantly interested in schemes for the reform of +the scientific work of the London University, and for the enlargement +of the scope and usefulness of the Royal Society. As for the latter, a +proposal had been made for federation with colonial scientific +societies, which was opposed by some of his friends in the x Club; and +he writes to Sir E. Frankland on February 3:--] + +I am very sorry you are all against Evans' scheme. I am for it. I think +it a very good proposal, and after all the talk, I do not want to see +the Society look foolish by doing nothing. + +You are a lot of obstructive old Tories, and want routing out. If I +were only younger and less indisposed to any sort of exertion, I would +rout you out finely! + +[With respect to the former, it had been proposed that medical degrees +should be conferred, not by the university, but by a union of the +several colleges concerned. He writes:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, January 11, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +I send back the "Heathen Deutscheree's" (whose ways are dark) letter +lest I forget it to-morrow. + +Meanwhile perpend these two things:-- + +1. United Colleges propose to give just as good an examination and +require as much qualification as the Scotch Universities. Why then give +their degree a distinguishing mark? + +2. "Academical distinctions" in medicine are all humbug. You are making +a medical technical school at Cambridge--and quite right too. The +United Colleges, if they do their business properly, will confer just +as much, or as little "academical distinction" as Cambridge by their +degree. + +3. The Fellowship of the College of Surgeons is in every sense as much +an "academical distinction" as the Masterships in Surgery or Doctorate +of Medicine of the Scotch and English Universities. + +4. You may as well cry for the moon as ask my colleagues in the Senate +to meddle seriously with the Matriculation. They are possessed by the +devil that cries continually, "There is only the Liberal education, and +Greek and Latin are his prophets." + +[At Bournemouth he also applied himself to writing the Darwin obituary +notice for the Royal Society, a labour of love which he had long felt +unequal to undertaking. The manuscript was finally sent off to the +printer's on April 6, unlike the still longer unfinished memoir on +Spirula, to which allusion is made here, among other business of the +"Challenger" Committee, of which he was a member. + +On February 12 he writes to Sir J. Evans:--] + +Spirula is a horrid burden on my conscience--but nobody could make head +or tail of the business but myself. + +That and Darwin's obituary are the chief subjects of my meditations +when I wake in the night. But I do not get much "forrarder," and I am +afraid I shall not until I get back to London. + +Bournemouth, February 14, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +No doubt the Treasury will jump at any proposition which relieves them +from further expense--but I cannot say I like the notion of leaving +some of the most important results of the "Challenger" voyage to be +published elsewhere than in the official record.... + +Evans made a deft allusion to Spirula, like a powder between two dabs +of jam. At present I have no moral sense, but it may awake as the days +get longer. + +I have been reading the "Origin" slowly again for the nth time, with +the view of picking out the essentials of the argument, for the +obituary notice. Nothing entertains me more than to hear people call it +easy reading. + +Exposition was not Darwin's forte--and his English is sometimes +wonderful. But there is a marvellous dumb sagacity about him--like that +of a sort of miraculous dog--and he gets to the truth by ways as dark +as those of the Heathen Chinee. + +I am getting quite sick of all the "paper philosophers," as old Galileo +called them, who are trying to stand upon Darwin's shoulders and look +bigger than he, when in point of real knowledge they are not fit to +black his shoes. It is just as well I am collapsed or I believe I +should break out with a final "Fur Darwin." + +I will think of you when I get as far as the fossils. At present I am +poking over P. sylvestris and P. pinnata in the intervals of weariness. + +My wife joins with me in love to you both. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Snow and cold winds here. Hope you are as badly off at Cambridge. + +Bournemouth, February 21, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +We have had nothing but frost and snow here lately, and at present half +a gale of the bitterest north-easter I have felt since we were at +Florence is raging. [Similarly to Sir J. Evans on the 28th]--"I get my +strength back but slowly, and think of migrating to Greenland or +Spitzbergen for a milder climate."] + +I believe I am getting better, as I have noticed that at a particular +stage of my convalescence from any sort of illness I pass through a +condition in which things in general appear damnable and I myself an +entire failure. If that is a sign of returning health you may look upon +my restoration as certain. + +If it is only Murray's speculations he wants to publish separately, I +should say by all means let him. But the facts, whether advanced by him +or other people, ought all to be in the official record. I agree we +can't stir. + +I scented the "goak." How confoundedly proud you are of it. In former +days I have been known to joke myself. + +I will look after the questions if you like. In my present state of +mind I shall be a capital critic--on Dizzy's views of critics... + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[This year Huxley was appointed a Trustee of the British Museum, an +office which he had held ex officio from 1883 to 1885, as President of +the Royal Society. + +This is referred to in the following letter of March 9:--] + +My dear Hooker, + +Having nothing to do plays the devil with doing anything, and I suppose +that is why I have been so long about answering your letter. + +There is nothing the matter with me now except want of strength. I am +tired out with a three-mile walk, and my voice goes if I talk for any +time. I do not suppose I shall do much good till I get into high and +dry air, and it is too early for Switzerland yet.... + +You see I was honoured and gloried by a trusteeship of the British +Museum. [Replying on the 2nd to Sir John Evans' congratulations, he +says:--"It is some months since Lord Salisbury made the proposal to me, +and I was beginning to wonder what had happened--whether Cantaur had +put his foot down for example, and objected to bad company."] These +things, I suppose, normally come when one is worn-out. When Lowe was +Chancellor of the Exchequer I had a long talk with him about the +affairs of the Natural History Museum, and I told him that he had +better put Flower at the head of it and make me a trustee to back him. +Bobby no doubt thought the suggestion cheeky, but it is odd that the +thing has come about now that I don't care for it, and desire nothing +better than to be out of every description of bother and responsibility. + +Have not Lady Hooker and you yet learned that a large country house is +of all places the most detestable in cold weather? The neuralgia was a +mild and kindly hint of Providence not to do it again, but I am +rejoiced it has vanished. + +Pronouns got mixed somehow. + +With our kindest regards. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +More last words:--What little faculty I have has been bestowed on the +obituary of Darwin for Royal Society lately. I have been trying to make +it an account of his intellectual progress, and I hope it will have +some interest. Among other things I have been trying to set out the +argument of the "Origin of Species," and reading the book for the nth +time for that purpose. It is one of the hardest books to understand +thoroughly that I know of, and I suppose that is the reason why even +people like Romanes get so hopelessly wrong. + +If you don't mind, I should be glad if you would run your eye over the +thing when I get as far as the proof stage--Lord knows when that will +be. + +[A few days later he wrote again on the same subject, after reading the +obituary of Asa Gray, the first American supporter of Darwin's theory.] + +March 23, 1888. + +I suppose Dana has sent you his obituary of Asa Gray. + +The most curious feature I note in it is that neither of them seems to +have mastered the principles of Darwin's theory. See the bottom of page +19 and the top of page 20. As I understand Darwin there is nothing +"Anti-Darwinian" in either of the two doctrines mentioned. + +Darwin has left the causes of variation and the question whether it is +limited or directed by external conditions perfectly open. + +The only serious work I have been attempting lately is Darwin's +obituary. I do a little every day, but get on very slowly. I have read +the life and letters all through again, and the "Origin" for the sixth +or seventh time, becoming confirmed in my opinion that it is one of the +most difficult books to exhaust that ever was written. + +I have a notion of writing out the argument of the "Origin" in +systematic shape as a sort of primer of Darwinismus. I have not much +stuff left in me, and it would be as good a way of using what there is +as I know of. What do you think? + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[In reply to this Sir J. Hooker was inclined to make the biographer +alone responsible for the confusion noted in the obituary of Asa Gray. +He writes:-- + +March 27, 1888. + +Dear Huxley, + +Dana's Gray arrived yesterday, and I turned to pages 19 and 20. I see +nothing Anti-Darwinian in the passages, and I do not gather from them +that Gray did. + +I did not follow Gray into his later comments on Darwinism, and I never +read his "Darwiniana." My recollection of his attitude after acceptance +of the doctrine, and during the first few years of his active +promulgation of it, is that he understood it clearly, but sought to +harmonise it with his prepossessions, without disturbing its physical +principles in any way. + +He certainly showed far more knowledge and appreciation of the contents +of the "Origin" than any of the reviewers and than any of the +commentators, yourself excepted. + +Latterly he got deeper and deeper into theological and metaphysical +wanderings, and finally formulated his ideas in an illogical fashion. + +...Be all this as it may, Dana seems to be in a muddle on page 20, and +quite a self-sought one. + +Ever yours, + +J.D. Hooker. + +The following is a letter of thanks to Mrs. Humphry Ward for her novel +"Robert Elsmere."] + +Bournemouth, March 15, 1888. + +My dear Mrs. Ward, + +My wife thanked you for your book which you were so kind as to send us. +But that was grace before meat, which lacks the "physical basis" of +after-thanksgiving--and I am going to supplement it, after my most +excellent repast. + +I am not going to praise the charming style, because that was in the +blood and you deserve no sort of credit for it. Besides, I should be +stepping beyond my last. But as an observer of the human +ant-hill--quite impartial by this time--I think your picture of one of +the deeper aspects of our troubled time admirable. + +You are very hard on the philosophers. I do not know whether Langham or +the Squire is the more unpleasant--but I have a great deal of sympathy +with the latter, so I hope he is not the worst. + +If I may say so, I think the picture of Catherine is the gem of the +book. She reminds me of her namesake of Siena--and would as little have +failed in any duty, however gruesome. You remember Sodoma's picture. + +Once more, many thanks for a great pleasure. + +My wife sends her love. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Meanwhile, he had been making no progress towards health; indeed, was +going slowly downhill. He makes fun of his condition when writing to +condole with Mr. Spencer on falling ill again after the unwonted spell +of activity already mentioned; but a few weeks later discovered the +cause of his weakness and depression in an affection of the heart. This +was not immediately dangerous, though he looked a complete wreck. His +letters from April onwards show how he was forced to give up almost +every form of occupation, and even to postpone his visit to +Switzerland, until he had been patched up enough to bear the journey.] + +Casalini, West Cliff, Bournemouth, March 9, 1888. + +My dear Spencer, + +I am very sorry to hear from Hooker that you have been unwell again. +You see if young men from the country will go plunging into the +dissipations of the metropolis nemesis follows. + +Until two days ago, the weather cocks never overstepped North on the +one side and East on the other ever since you left. Then they went west +with sunshine and most enjoyable softness--but next South with a gale +and rain--all ablowin' and agrowin' at this present. + +I have nothing to complain of so long as I do nothing; but although my +hair has grown with its usual rapidity I differ from Samson in the +absence of a concurrent return of strength. Perhaps that is because a +male hairdresser, and no Delilah, cut it last! But I waste Biblical +allusions upon you. + +My wife and Nettie, who is on a visit, join with me in best wishes. + +Please let me have a line to say how you are--Gladstonianly on a +post-card. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Bournemouth, April 7, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +"Let thy servant's face be white before thee." The obituary of Darwin +went to Rix yesterday! [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society.] It +is not for lack of painstaking if it is not worth much, but I have been +in a bad vein for work of any kind, and I thought I should never get +even this simple matter ended. + +I have been bothered with praecordial uneasiness and intermittent pulse +ever since I have been here, and at last I got tired of it and went +home the day before yesterday to get carefully overhauled. Hames tells +me there is weakness and some enlargement of the left ventricle, which +is pretty much what I expected. Luckily the valves are all right. + +I am to go and devote myself to coaxing the left ventricle wall to +thicken pro rata--among the mountains, and to have nothing to do with +any public functions or other exciting bedevilments. So the +International Geological Congress will not have the pleasure of seeing +its Honorary President in September. I am disgusted at having to break +an engagement, but I cannot deny that Hames is right. At present the +mere notion of the thing puts me in a funk. + +I wish I could get out of the chair of the M.B.A. Also...I know that +you and Evans and Dyer will do your best, but you are all eaten up with +other occupations. + +Just turn it over in your mind--there's a dear good fellow--just as if +you hadn't any other occupations. + +With which eminently reasonable and unselfish request believe me, + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Bournemouth, April 10, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +I send by this post the last--I hope for your sake and for that of the +recording angel--of --. [The "Heathen Deutscheree". A paper of his, +contributed to the Royal Society, had been under revision.] I agree to +all Brady's suggestions. + +With all our tinkering I feel inclined to wind up the affair after the +manner of Mr. Shandy's summing up of the discussion about Tristram's +breeches--"And when he has got 'em he'll look a beast in 'em." + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[April 12. To the same:--] + +I am quite willing to remain at the M.B.A. till the opening. If Evans +will be President I shall be happy. + +-- is a very good man, but you must not expect too much of the +"wild-cat" element, which is so useful in the world, in him. + +I am disgusted with myself for letting everything go by the run, but +there is no help for it. The least thing bowls me over just now. + +Casalini, West Cliff, Bournemouth, April 12, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +I plead not guilty. [In the matter of sending out no notices for a +meeting of the x Club.] It was agreed at the last meeting that there +should be none in April--I suppose by reason of Easter, so I sent no +notice. This is what Frankland told me in his letter of the 2nd. +However, I see you were present, so I can't make it out. + +My continual absence makes me a shocking bad Treasurer, and I am sorry +to say that things will be worse instead of better. Ever since this +last pleuritic business I have been troubled with praecordial +uneasiness. [After an account of his symptoms he continues] so I am off +(with my wife) to Switzerland at the end of this month, and shall be +away all the summer. We have not seen the Engadine and Tyrol yet, so we +shall probably make a long circuit. It is a horrid nuisance to be +exiled in this fashion. I have hardly been at home one month in the +last ten. But it is of no use to growl. + +Under these circumstances, would you mind looking after the x while I +am away? There is nothing to do but to send the notices on Saturday +previous to the meeting. + +I am very grieved to hear about Hirst--though to say truth, the way he +has held out for so long has been a marvel to me. The last news I had +of Spencer was not satisfactory. + +Eheu! the "Table Round" is breaking up. It's a great pity; we were such +pleasant fellows, weren't we? + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Casalini, West Cliff, Bournemouth, April 18, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +I am cheered by your liking of the notice of Darwin. I read the "Life +and Letters," and the "Origin," Krause's "Life," and some other things +over again in order to do it. But I have not much go in me, and I was a +scandalous long time pottering over the writing. + +I have sent the proof back with a variety of interpolations. I would +have brought the "Spirula" notes down here to see what I could do, but +I felt pretty sure that if I brought two things I should not do one. +Nobody could do anything with it but myself. I will try what I can do +when I go to town. How much time is there before the wind-up of the +Challenger? + +We go up to town Monday next, and I am thinking of being off the Monday +following (April 30). I have come to the same conclusion as yourself, +that Glion would be better than Grindelwald. I should like very much to +see you. Just drop me a line to say when you are likely to turn up. + +Poor Arnold's death has been a great shock [Matthew Arnold died +suddenly of heart disease at Liverpool, where he had gone to meet his +daughter on her return from America.]--rather for his wife than +himself--I mean on her account than his. I have always thought sudden +death to be the best of all for oneself, but under such circumstances +it is terrible for those who are left. Arnold told me years ago that he +had heart disease. I do not suppose there is any likelihood of an +immediate catastrophe in my own case. I should not go abroad if there +were. Imagine the horror of leaving one's wife to fight all the +difficulties of sudden euthanasia in a Swiss hotel! I saw enough of +that two years ago at Arolla. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, April 25, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +All my beautiful Swiss plans are knocked on the head--at any rate for +the present--in favour of horizontality and Digitalis here. The journey +up on Monday demonstrated that travelling, at present, was +impracticable. + +Hames is sanguine I shall get right with rest, and I am quite satisfied +with his opinion, but for the sake of my belongings he thinks it right +to have Clark's opinion to fortify him. + +It is a bore to be converted into a troublesome invalid even for a few +weeks, but I comfort myself with my usual reflection on the chances of +life, "Lucky it is no worse." Any impatience would have been checked by +what I heard about Moseley this morning--that he has sunk into hopeless +idiocy. A man in the prime of life! + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, May 4, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +Best thanks for your note and queries. + +I remember hearing what you say about Darwin's father long ago, I am +not sure from what source. But if you look at page 20 of the "Life and +Letters" you will see that Darwin himself says his father's mind "was +not scientific." I have altered the passage so as to use these exact +words. + +I used "malice" rather in the French sense, which is more innocent than +ours, but "irony" would be better if "malice" in any way suggests +malignity. "Chaff" is unfortunately beneath the dignity of a Royal +Society obituary. + +I am going to add a short note about Erasmus Darwin's views. + +It is a great comfort to me that you like the thing. I am getting +nervous over possible senility--63 to-day, and nothing of your +evergreen ways about me. + +I am decidedly mending, chiefly to all appearance by allowing myself to +be stuffed with meat and drink like a Strasburg goose. I am also very +much afraid that abolishing tobacco has had something to do with my +amendment. + +But I am mindful of your maxim--keep a tight hold over your doctor. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +P.S. 1.--Can't say I have sacrificed anything to penmanship, and am not +at all sure about lucidity! + +P.S. 2.--It is "Friday"--there is a dot over the i--reopened my letter +to crow! + +[The following letter to Mr. Spencer is in answer to a note of +condolence on his illness, in which the following passage occurs:--] + +I was grieved to hear of so serious an evil as that which [Hirst] +named. It is very depressing to find one's friends as well as one's +self passing more and more into invalid life. + +Well, we always have one consolation, such as it is, that we have made +our lives of some service in the world, and that, in fact, we are +suffering from doing too much for our fellows. Such thoughts do not go +far in the way of mitigation, but they are better than nothing. + +4 Marlborough Place, May 8, 1888. + +My dear Spencer, + +I have been on the point of writing to you, but put it off for lack of +anything cheerful to say. + +After I had recovered from my pleurisy, I could not think why my +strength did not come back. It turns out that there is some weakness +and dilatation of the heart, but lucky no valvular mischief. I am +condemned to the life of a prize pig--physical and mental idleness, and +corporeal stuffing with meat and drink, and I am certainly improving +under the regimen. + +I am told I have a fair chance of getting all right again. But I take +it as a pretty broad hint to be quiet for the rest of my days. At +present I have to be very quiet, and I spend most of my time on my back. + +You and I, my dear friend, have had our innings, and carry our bats out +while our side is winning. One could not reasonably ask for more. And +considering the infinite possibilities of physical and moral suffering +which beset us, I, for my part, am well pleased that things are no +worse. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, N.W., June 1, 1888. + +My dear Knowles, + +I have been living the life of a prize pig for the last six weeks--no +exercise, much meat and drink, and as few manifestations of +intelligence as possible, for the purpose of persuading my heart to +return to its duty. + +I am astonished to find that there is a kick left in me--even when your +friend Kropotkin pitches into me without the smallest justification. +Vide 19, June, page 820. + +Just look at 19, February, page 168. I say, "AT THE PRESENT TIME, the +produce of the soil does not suffice," etc. + +I did not say a word about the capabilities of the soil if, as part and +parcel of a political and social revolution on the grandest scale, we +all took to spade husbandry. + +As a matter of fact, I did try to find out a year or two ago, whether +the soil of these islands could, under any circumstances, feed its +present population with wheat. I could not get any definite +information, but I understood Caird to think that it could. + +In my argument, however, the question is of no moment. There must be +some limit to the production of food by a given area, and there is none +to population. + +What a stimulus vanity is!--nothing but the vain dislike of being +thought in the wrong would have induced me to trouble myself or bore +you with this letter. Bother Kropotkin! + +I think his article very interesting and important nevertheless. + +I am getting better but very slowly. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[In reply, Mr. Knowles begged him to come to lunch and a quiet talk, +and further suggested, "as an ENTIRELY UNBIASSED person," that he ought +to answer Kropotkin's errors in the "Nineteenth Century," and not only +in a private letter behind his back. + +The answer is as follows:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, June 3, 1888. + +My dear Knowles, + +Your invitation is tantalising. I wish I could accept it. But it is now +some six weeks that my excursions have been limited to a daily drive. +The rest of my time I spend on the flat of my back, eating, drinking, +and doing absolutely nothing besides, except taking iron and digitalis. + +I meant to have gone abroad a month ago, but it turned out that my +heart was out of order, and though I am getting better, progress is +slow, and I do not suppose I shall get away for some weeks yet. + +I have neither brains nor nerves, and the very thought of controversy +puts me in a blue funk! + +My doctors prophesy good things, as there is no valvular disease, only +dilatation. But for the present I must subscribe myself (from an +editorial point of view). + +Your worthless and useless and bad-hearted friend, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The British Association was to meet at Plymouth this year; and Mr. +W.F. Collier (an uncle of John Collier, his son-in-law) invited Huxley +and any friend of his to be his guest at Horrabridge.] + +4 Marlborough Place, June 13, 1888. + +My dear Mr. Collier, + +It would have been a great pleasure to me to be your guest once more, +but the Fates won't have it this time. + +Dame Nature has given me a broad hint that I have had my innings, and, +for the rest of my time, must be content to look on at the players. + +It is not given to all of us to defy the doctors and go in for a new +lease, as I am glad to hear you are doing. I declare that your open +invitation to any friend of mine is the most touching mark of +confidence I ever received. I am going to send it to my great ally +Michael Foster, Secretary of the Royal Society. I do not know whether +he has made any other arrangements, and I am not quite sure whether he +and his wife are going to Plymouth. But I hope they may be able to +accept, for you will certainly like them, and they will certainly like +you. I will ask him to write directly to you to save time. + +With very kind remembrances to Mrs. Collier. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I forgot to say that I am mending as fast as I can expect to do. + + +CHAPTER 3.4. + +1888. + +[It was not till June 23 that Huxley was patched up sufficiently by the +doctors for him to start for the Engadine. His first stage was to +Lugano; the second by Menaggio and Colico to Chiavenna; the third to +the Maloja. The summer visitors who saw him arrive so feeble that he +could scarcely walk a hundred yards on the level, murmured that it was +a shame to send out an old man to die there. Their surprise was the +greater when, after a couple of months, they saw him walking his ten +miles and going up two thousand feet without difficulty. As far as his +heart was concerned, the experiment of sending him to the mountains was +perfectly justified. With returning strength he threw himself once more +into the pursuit of gentians, being especially interested in their +distribution and hybridism, and the possibility of natural hybrids +explaining the apparent connecting links between species. No doubt, +too, he felt some gratification in learning from his friend Mr. (now +Sir W.) Thiselton Dyer, that the results he had already obtained in +pursuing this hobby had been of real value:-- + +Your important paper "On Alpine Gentians" (writes the latter) has begun +to attract the attention of botanists. It has led Baillon, who is the +most acute of the French people, to make some observations of his own. + +At the Maloja he stayed twelve weeks, but it was not until nearly two +months had elapsed that he could write of any decided improvement, +although even then his anticipations for the future were of the +gloomiest. The "secret" alluded to in the following letter is the +destined award to him of the Copley medal:--] + +Hotel Kursaal, Maloja, Ober Engadine, August 17, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +I know you will be glad to hear that, at last, I can report favourably +of my progress. The first six weeks of our stay here the weather was +cold, foggy, wet, and windy--in short, everything it should not be. If +the hotel had not been as it is, about the most comfortable in +Switzerland, I do not know what I should have done. As it was, I got a +very bad attack of "liver," which laid me up for ten days or so. A +Brighton doctor--Bluett by name, and well up to his work--kindly looked +after me. + +With the early days of August the weather changed for the better, and +for the last fortnight we have had perfect summer--day after day. I +soon picked up my walking power, and one day got up to Lake Longhin, +about 2000 feet up. That was by way of an experiment, and I was none +the worse for it, but usually my walks are of a more modest +description. To-day we are all clouds and rain, and my courage is down +to zero, with praecordial discomfort. It seems to me that my heart is +quite strong enough to do all that can reasonably be required of it--if +all the rest of the machinery is in good order, and the outside +conditions are favourable. But the poor old pump cannot contend with +grit or want of oil anywhere. + +I mean to stay here as long as I can; they say it is often very fine up +to the middle of September. Then we shall migrate lower, probably on +the Italian side, and get home most likely in October. But I really am +very much puzzled to know what to do. + +My wife has not been very well lately, and Ethel has contrived to +sprain her ankle at lawn-tennis. Collier has had to go to Naples, but +we expect him back in a few days. + +With our united love to Mrs. Foster and yourself. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I was very pleased to hear of a secret my wife communicated to me. So +long as I was of any use, I did not care much about having the fact +recognised, but now that I am used up I like the feather in my cap. +"Fuimus." Let us have some news of you. + +[Sir M. Foster, who was kept in England by the British Association till +September 10, wrote that he was going abroad for the rest of September, +and proposed to spend some time at Menaggio, whence he hoped to effect +a meeting. He winds up with a jest at his recent unusual +occupation:--"I have had no end of righteousness accounted to me for +helping to entertain Bishops at Cambridge." Hence the postcript in +reply:--] + +Hotel Kursaal, Maloja, September 2, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +A sharp fall of snow has settled our minds, which have been long +wavering about future plans, and we leave this for Menaggio, Hotel +Vittoria, on Thursday next, 6th. [He did not ultimately leave till the +22nd.] + +All the wiseacres tell us that there are fresher breezes (vento di +Lecco) at Menaggio than anywhere else in the Como country, and at any +rate we are going to try whether we can exist there. If it does not +answer, we will leave a note for you there to say where we are gone. It +would be very jolly to forgather. + +I am sorry to leave this most comfortable of hotels, but I do not think +that cold would suit either of us. I am marvellously well so long as I +am taking sharp exercise, and I do my nine or ten miles without +fatigue. It is only when I am quiet that I know that I have a heart. + +I do not feel at all sure how matters may be 4000 feet lower, but what +I have gained is all to the good in the way of general health. In spite +of all the bad weather we have had, I have nothing but praise for this +place--the air is splendid, excellent walks for invalids, capital +drainage, and the easiest to reach of all places 6000 feet up. + +My wife sends her love, and thanks Mrs. Foster for her letter, and +looks forward to meeting her. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Wash yourself clean of all that episcopal contamination or you may +infect me! + +[But adverse circumstances prevented the meeting.] + +Hotel Kursaal, Maloja, September 24, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +As ill luck would have it, we went over to Pontresina to-day (for the +first time), and have only just got back (5.30). I have just +telegraphed to you. + +All our plans have been upset by the Fohn wind, which gave us four +days' continuous downpour here--upset the roads, and flooded the +Chiavenna to Colico Railway. We hear that the latter is not yet +repaired. + +I was going to write to you at the Vittoria, but thought you could have +hardly got there yet. We took rooms there a week ago, and then had to +countermand them. If there are any letters kicking about for us, will +you ask them to send them on? + +By way of an additional complication, my poor wife gave herself an +unlucky strain this morning, and even if the railway is mended I do not +think she will be fit to travel for two or three days. We are very +disappointed. What is to be done? + +I am wonderfully better. So long as I am taking active exercise and the +weather is dry, I am quite comfortable, and only discover that I have a +heart when I am kept quiet by bad weather or get my liver out of order. +Here I can walk nine or ten miles up hill and down dale without +difficulty or fatigue. What I may be able to do elsewhere is doubtful. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +It would do you and Mrs. Foster a great deal of good to come up here. +Not out of your way at all! Oh dear no! + +Zurich, October 4, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +I should have written to you at Stresa, but I had mislaid your +postcard, and it did not turn up till too late. + +We made up our minds after all that we would as soon not go down to the +Lakes--where the ground would be drying up after the inundations--so we +went the other way over the Julier to Tiefenkasten, and from T. to +Ragatz, where we stayed a week. Ragatz was hot and steamy at +first--cold and steamy afterwards--but earlier in the season, I should +think, it would be pleasant. + +Last Monday we migrated here, and have had the vilest weather until +to-day. All yesterday it rained cats and dogs. + +To-day we are off to Neuhausen (Schweitzerhof) to have a look at the +Rhine falls. If it is pleasant we may stop there a few days. Then we go +to Stuttgart, on our way to Nuremberg, which neither of us have seen. +We shall be at the "Bavarian Hotel," and a letter will catch us there, +if you have anything to say, I daresay up to the middle of the month. +After that Frankfort, and then home. + +We do not find long railway journeys very good for either of us, and I +am trying to keep within six hours at a stretch. + +I am not so vigorous as I was at Maloja, but still infinitely better +than when I left England. + +I hope the mosquitoes left something of you in Venice. When I was there +in October there were none! + +My wife joins with me in love to Mrs. Foster and yourself. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Some friendly chaff in Sir M. Foster's reply to the latter contains at +least a real indication of the way in which Huxley became the centre of +the little society at the Maloja:--] + +You may reflect that you have done the English tourists a good service +this summer. At most table d'hotes in the Lakes I overheard people +talking about the joys of Maloja, and giving themselves great airs on +account of their intimacy with "Professor Huxley"!! + +[But indeed he made several friends here, notably one in an unexpected +quarter. This was Father Steffens, Professor of Palaeography in +Freiburg University, resident Catholic priest at Maloja in the summer, +with whom he had many discussions, and whose real knowledge of the +critical questions confronting Christian theology he used to contrast +with the frequent ignorance and occasional rudeness of the English +representatives of that science who came to the hotel. + +A letter to Mr. Spencer from Ragatz shows him on his return journey:--] + +In fact, so long as I was taking rather sharp exercise in sunshine I +felt quite well, and I could walk as well as any time these ten years. +It needed damp cold weather to remind me that my pumping apparatus was +not to be depended upon under unfavourable conditions. Four thousand +feet descent has impressed that fact still more forcibly upon me, and I +am quite at sea as to what it will be best to do when we return. Quite +certainly, however, we shall not go to Bournemouth. I like the place, +but the air is too soft and moist for either of us. + +I should be very glad if we could be within reach of you and help to +cheer you up, but I cannot say anything definite at present about our +winter doings... + +My wife sends her kindest regards. She is much better than when we +left, which is lucky for me, as I have no mind, and could not make it +up if I had any. The only vigour I have is in my legs, and that only +when the sun shines. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[A curious incident on this journey deserves recording, as an instance +of a futile "warning." On the night of October 6-7, Huxley woke in the +night and seemed to hear an inward voice say, "Don't go to Stuttgart +and Nuremberg; go straight home." All he did was to make a note of the +occurrence and carry out his original plan, whereupon nothing happened. + +The following to his youngest daughter, who had gone back earlier from +the Maloja, refers to her success in winning the prize for modelling at +the Slade School of Art.] + +Schweitzerhof, Neuhausen, October 7, 1888. + +Dearest Babs, + +I will sit to you like "Pater on a monument smiling at grief" for the +medallion. As to the photographs, I will try to get them done to order +either at Stuttgart or Nuremberg, if we stay at either place long +enough. But I am inclined to think they had better be done at home, and +then you could adjust the length of the caoutchouc visage to suit your +artistic convenience. + +We have been crowing and flapping our wings over the medal and +trimmings. The only thing I lament is that "your father's influence" +was not brought to bear; there is no telling what you might have got if +it had been. Thoughtless--very!! + +So sorry we did not come here instead of stopping at Ragatz. The falls +are really fine, and the surrounding country a wide tableland, with the +great snowy peaks of the Oberland on the horizon. Last evening we had a +brilliant sunset, and the mountains were lighted up with the most +delicate rosy blush you can imagine. + +To-day it rains cats and dogs again. You will have seen in the papers +that the Rhine and the Aar and the Rhone and the Arve are all in flood. +There is more water here in the falls than there has been these ten +years. However, we have got to go, as the hotel shuts up to-morrow, and +there seems a good chance of reaching Stuttgart without water in the +carriage. + +Long railway journeys do not seem to suit either of us, and we have +fixed the maximum at six hours. I expect we shall be home some time in +the third week of this month. + +Love to Hal and anybody else who may be at home. + +Ever your Pater. + +4 Marlborough Place, October 20, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +We got back on Thursday, and had a very good passage, and took it easy +by staying the night at Dover. The "Lord Warden" gave us the worst +dinner we have had for four months, at double the price of the good +dinners. I wonder why we cannot manage these things better in England. + +We are both very glad to be at home again, and trust we may be allowed +to enjoy our own house for a while. But, oh dear, the air is not +Malojal! not even at Hempstead, whither I walked yesterday, and the +pump labours accordingly. + +I found the first part of the fifth edition of the Text-book among the +two or three hundredweight of letters and books which had accumulated +during four months. Gratulire! + +By the way, South Kensington has sent me some inquiry about +Examinations, which I treat with contempt, as doubtless you have a +duplicate. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[On October 25 he announces his return to Sir Joseph Hooker, and +laments his loss of vigour at the sea-level:--] + +Hames won't let me stay here in November, and I think we shall go to +Brighton. Unless on the flat of my back, in bed, I shall not have been +at home a month all this year. + +I have been utterly idle. There was a lovely case of hybridism, +Gentiana lutea and G. punctata, in a little island in the lake of Sils; +but I fell ill and was confined to bed just after I found it out. It +would be very interesting if somebody would work out Distribution five +miles round the Maloja as a centre. There are the most curious local +differences. + +You asked me to send you a copy of my obituary of Darwin. So I put one +herewith, though no doubt you have seen it in the "Proceedings of the +Royal Society." + +I should like to know what you think of 17 to 27. If ever I am able to +do anything again I will enlarge on these heads. + +[In these pages of the Obituary Notice ("Proceedings of the Royal +Society" 44 Number 269) he endeavours:--] + +to separate the substance of the theory from its accidents, and to show +that a variety, not only of hostile comments, but of friendly would-be +improvements lose their raison d'etre to the careful student... + +It is not essential to Darwin's theory that anything more should be +assumed than the facts of heredity, variation, and unlimited +multiplication; and the validity of the deductive reasoning as to the +effect of the last (that is, of the struggle for existence which it +involves) upon the varieties resulting from the operation of the +former. Nor is it essential that one should take up any particular +position in regard to the mode of variation, whether, for example, it +takes place per saltum or gradually; whether it is definite in +character or indefinite. Still less are those who accept the theory +bound to any particular views as to the causes of heredity or of +variation. + +[The remaining letters of the year trace the gradual bettering of +health, from the "no improvement" of October to the almost complete +disappearance of bad symptoms in December. He had renounced Brighton, +which he detested, in favour of Eastbourne, where the keen air of the +downs and the daily walk over Beachy Head acted as a tolerable +substitute for the Alps. Though he would not miss the anniversary +meeting of the Royal Society, when he was to receive the Copley medal, +one more link binding him to his old friend Hooker, he did not venture +to stay for the dinner in the evening. + +This autumn also he resigned his place on the board of Governors of +Eton College.] "I think it must be a year and a half," [he writes,] +"since I attended a meeting, and I am not likely to do better in the +future." + +4 Marlborough Place, October 28, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +Best thanks for your suggestion about the cottage, namely "that before +you decide on Brighton Mrs. Huxley should come down and look at the +cottage below my house" at Sunningdale, but I do not see my way to +adopting it. A house, however small, involves servants and ties one to +one place. The conditions that suit me do not seem to be found anywhere +but in the high Alps, and I can't afford to keep a second house in the +country and pass the summer in Switzerland as well. + +We are going to Brighton (not because we love it, quite t'other) on +account of the fine weather that is to be had there in November and +December. We shall be back for some weeks about Christmas, and then get +away somewhere else--Malvern possibly--out of the east winds of +February and March. + +I do not like this nomadic life at all, but it appears to be Hobson's +choice between that and none. + +I am sorry to hear you are troubled by your ears. I am so deaf that I +begin to fight shy of society. It irritates me not to hear; it +irritates me still more to be spoken to as if I were deaf, and the +absurdity of being irritated on the last ground irritates me still +more. + +I wish you would start that business of giving a competent young +botanist with good legs 100 pounds to go and study distribution in the +Engadine--from the Maloja as centre--in a circle of a radius of eight +or ten miles. The distribution of the four principal conifers, Arolla +pine, larch, mountain pine and spruce, is most curious, the why and +wherefore nowise apparent. + +I am very sorry I cannot be at x on Thursday, but they won't let me be +out at night at present. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, October 28, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +No fear of my trying to stop in London. Hames won't have it. He came +and overhauled me the other day. As I expected, the original mischief +is just as it was. One does not get rid either of dilatation or its +results at my time of life. The only thing is to keep the pipes clear +by good conditions of existence. + +After endless discussion we have settled on Brighton for November and +December. It is a hateful place to my mind, but there is more chance of +sunshine there (at this time) than anywhere else. We shall come up for +a week or two on this side of Christmas, and then get away somewhere +else out of the way of the east winds of February and March. + +I do not think that the Hazlemere country would do for us, nor indeed +any country place so long as we cannot regularly set up house. + +Heaven knows I don't want to bother about anything at present. But I +should like to convince -- that he does not yet understand the elements +of his subject. What a copious ink-spilling cuttlefish of a writer he +is! + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, London, N.W., November 2, 1888. + +My dear Skelton, + +Best thanks for the second volume of "Maitland of Lethington." I have +been in the Engadine for the last four months, trying to repair the +crazy old "house I live in," and meeting with more success than I hoped +for when I left home. + +Your volume turned up amidst a mountain of accumulated books, papers, +and letters, and I can only hope it has not been too long without +acknowledgment. + +I have been much interested in your argument about the "Casket +letters." The comparison of Crawford's deposition with the Queen's +letter leaves no sort of doubt that the writer of one had the other +before him; and under the circumstances I do not see how it can be +doubted that the Queen's letter is forged. + +But though thus wholly agreeing with you in substance, I cannot help +thinking that your language on page 341 may be seriously pecked at. + +My experience of reporters leads me to think that there would be no +discrepancy at all comparable to that between the two accounts, and I +speak from the woeful memories of the many Royal Commissions I have +wearied over. The accuracy of a good modern reporter is really +wonderful. + +And I do not think that "the two documents were drawn by the same +hand." I should say that the writer of the letter had Crawford's +deposition before him, and made what he considered improvements here +and there. + +You will say this letter is like Falstaff's reckoning, with but a +pennyworth of thanks to this monstrous quantity of pecking. + +But the gratitude is solid and the criticism mere two-dimension stuff. +It is a charming book. + +With kind remembrances to Mrs. Skelton. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, November 9, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +We came here on Tuesday, on which day, by ill luck, the east wind also +started, and has been blowing half a gale ever since. We are in the +last house but one to the west, and as high up as we dare go--looking +out on the sea. The first day we had to hold on to our chairs to +prevent being blown away in the sitting-room, but we have hired a +screen and can now croon over the fire without danger. + +A priori, the conditions cannot be said to have been promising for two +people, one of whom is liable to bronchitis and rheumatism and the +other to pleurisy, but, as I am so fond of rubbing into Herbert +Spencer, a priori reasonings are mostly bosh, and we are thriving. + +With three coats on I find the air on Beachy Head eminently refreshing, +and there is so much light in the southern quarter just now, that we +confidently hope to see the sun once more in the course of a few days. + +As I told you in my official letter, I am going up for the 30th. But I +am in a quandary about the dinner, partly by reason of the inevitable +speech, and partly the long sitting. I should very much like to attend, +and I think I could go through with it. On the other hand, my wife +declares it would be very imprudent, and I am not quite sure she is +wrong. I wish you would tell me exactly what you think about the +matter. + +The way I pick up directly I get into good air makes me suspect myself +of malingering, and yet I certainly had grown very seedy in London +before we left. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, November 13, 1888. + +My dear Foster, + +We are very sorry to hear about Michael Junior. [Sir M. Foster's son +was threatened with lung trouble, and was ordered to live abroad. He +proposed to carry his medical experience to the Maloja and practise +there during the summer. Huxley offered to give him some +introductions.] Experto crede; of all anxieties the hardest to bear is +that about one's children. But considering the way you got off yourself +and have become the hearty and bucolic person you are, I think you +ought to be cheery. Everybody speaks well of the youngster, and he is +bound to behave himself well and get strong as swiftly as possible. + +Though very loth, I give up the dinner. But unless I am on my back I +shall turn up at the meeting. I think that is a compromise very +creditable to my prudence. + +Though it is blowing a gale of wind from south-west to-day there is +real sunshine, and it is fairly warm. I am very glad we came here +instead of that beastly Brighton. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, November 15, 1888. + +My dear Evans, + +I am very sorry to have missed you. I told my doctor that while the +weather was bad it was of no use to go away, and when it was fine I +might just as well stop at home; but he did not see the force of my +reasoning, and packed us off here. + +The award of the Copley is a kindness I feel very much... + +The Congress [The International Geological Congress, at which he was to +have presided.] seems to have gone off excellently. I consider that my +own performance of the part of dummy was distinguished. + +So the Lawes business is fairly settled at last! "Lawes Deo," as the +Claimant might have said. But the pun will be stale, as you doubtless +have already made all possible epigrams and punnigrams on the topic. + +My wife joins with me in kindest regards to Mrs. Evans and yourself. If +Mrs. Evans had only come up to the Maloja, she would have had real +winter and no cold. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, November 15, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +You would have it that the Royal Society broke the law in giving you +the Copley, and they certainly violated custom in giving it to me the +year following. Whoever heard of two biologers getting it one after +another? It is very pleasant to have our niches in the Pantheon close +together. It is getting on for forty years since we were first +"acquent," and considering with what a very considerable dose of +tenacity, vivacity, and that glorious firmness (which the beasts who +don't like us call obstinacy) we are both endowed, the fact that we +have never had the shadow of a shade of a quarrel is more to our credit +than being ex-Presidents and Copley medallists. + +But we have had a masonic bond in both being well salted in early life. +I have always felt I owed a great deal to my acquaintance with the +realities of things gained in the old "Rattlesnake". + +I am getting on pretty well here, though the weather has been mostly +bad. All being well I shall attend the meeting of the Society on the +30th, but not the dinner. I am very sorry to miss the latter, but I +dare not face the fatigue and the chances of a third dose of pleurisy. + +My wife sends kindest regards and thanks for your congratulations. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, November 17, 1888. + +My dear Flower, + +...Many thanks for taking my troublesomeness in good part. My friend +will be greatly consoled to know that you have the poor man "in your +eye." Schoolmaster, naturalist, and coal merchant used to be the three +refuges for the incompetent. Schoolmaster is rapidly being eliminated, +so I suppose the pressure on Natural History and coals will increase. + +I am glad you have got the Civil Service Commissioners to listen to +common sense. I had an awful battle with them (through the Department) +over Newton, who is now in your paleontological department. If I +recollect rightly, they examined him inter alia on the working of the +Poor Laws! + +The Royal Society has dealt very kindly with me. They patted me on the +back when I started thirty-seven years ago, and it was a great +encouragement. They give me their best, now that my race is run, and it +is a great consolation. At the far end of life all one's work looks so +uncommonly small, that the good opinion of one's contemporaries +acquires a new value. + +We have a summer's day, and I am writing before an open window! +Yesterday it blew great guns. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following letter to Lady Welby, the point of which is that to be +"morally convinced" is not the same thing as to offer scientific proof, +refers to an article in the "Church Quarterly" for October called +"Truthfulness in Science and Religion," evoked by Huxley's "Nineteenth +Century" article on "Science and the Bishops."] + +November 27, 1888. + +Dear Lady Welby, + +Many thanks for the article in the "Church Quarterly", which I return +herewith. I am not disposed to bestow any particular attention upon it; +as the writer, though evidently a fair-minded man, appears to me to be +entangled in a hopeless intellectual muddle, and one which has no +novelty. Christian beliefs profess to be based upon historical facts. +If there was no such person as Jesus of Nazareth, and if His biography +given in the Gospels is a fiction, Christianity vanishes. + +Now the inquiry into the truth or falsehood of a matter of history is +just as much a question of pure science as the inquiry into the truth +or falsehood of a matter of geology, and the value of evidence in the +two cases must be tested in the same way. If any one tells me that the +evidence of the existence of man in the miocene epoch is as good as +that upon which I frequently act every day of my life, I reply that +this is quite true, but that it is no sort of reason for believing in +the existence of miocene man. + +Surely no one but a born fool can fail to be aware that we constantly, +and in very grave conjunctions, are obliged to act upon extremely bad +evidence, and that very often we suffer all sorts of penalties in +consequence. And surely one must be something worse than a born fool to +pretend that such decision under the pressure of the enigmas of life +ought to have the smallest influence in those judgments which are made +with due and sufficient deliberation. You will see that these +considerations go to the root of the whole matter. I regret that I +cannot discuss the question more at length and deal with sundry topics +put forward in your letter. At present writing is a burden to me. + +[A letter to Professor Ray Lankester mixes grave and gay in a little +homily, edged by personal experience, on the virtues and vices of +combativeness.] + +10 Southcliff Terrace, Eastbourne, December 6, 1888. + +I think it would be a very good thing both for you and for Oxford if +you went there. Oxford science certainly wants stirring up, and +notwithstanding your increase in years and wisdom, I think you would +bear just a little more stirring down, so that the conditions for a +transfer of energy are excellent! + +Seriously, I wish you would let an old man, who has had his share of +fighting, remind you that battles, like hypotheses, are not to be +multiplied beyond necessity. Science might say to you as the +Staffordshire collier's wife said to her husband at the fair, "Get thee +foighten done and come whoam." You have a fair expectation of ripe +vigour for twenty years; just think what may be done with that capital. + +No use to tu quoque me. Under the circumstances of the time, warfare +has been my business and duty. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Two more letters of the year refer to the South Kensington +examinations, for which Huxley was still nominally responsible. As +before, we see him reluctant to sign the report upon papers which he +had not himself examined; yet at the same time doing all that lay in +his power to assist by criticising the questions and thinking out the +scheme of teaching on which the examination was to be based. He replies +to some proposed changes in a letter to Sir M. Foster of December 12:--] + +I am very sorry I cannot agree with your clients about the examination. +They should recollect the late Master of Trinity's aphorism that even +the youngest of us is not infallible. + +I know exactly upon what principles I am going, and so far as I am at +present informed that advantage is peculiar to my side. Two points I am +quite clear about--one is the exclusion of Amphioxus, and the other the +retention of so much of the Bird as will necessitate a knowledge of +Sauropsidan skeletal characters and the elements of skeletal homologies +in skull and limbs. + +I have taken a good deal of pains over drawing up a new +syllabus--including dogfish--and making room for it by excluding +Amphioxus and all of bird except skeleton. I have added Lamprey +(cranial and spinal skeleton, NOT face cartilages), so that the +intelligent student may know what a notochord means before he goes to +embryology. I have excluded Distoma and kept Helix. + +The Committee must now settle the matter. I have done with it. + +[On December 27 he writes:--] + +I have been thinking over the Examinership business without coming to +any very satisfactory result. The present state of things is not +satisfactory so far as I am concerned. I do not like to appear to be +doing what I am not doing. + +-- would of course be the successor indicated, if he had not so +carefully cut his own throat as an Examiner...He would be bringing an +action against the Lord President before he had been three years in +office!...As I told Forster, when he was Vice-President, the whole +value of the Examiner system depends on the way the examiners do their +work. I have the gravest doubt about -- steadily plodding through the +disgustful weariness of it as you and I have done, or observing any +regulation that did not suit his fancy. + +[With this may be compared the letter of May 19, 1889, to Sir J. +Donnelly, when he finally resolved to give up the "sleeping +partnership" in the examination. + +His last letter of the year was written to Sir J. Hooker, when +transferring to him the "archives" of the x Club, as the new Treasurer.] + +4 Marlborough Place, December 29, 1888. + +My dear Hooker, + +All good wishes to you and yours, and many of them. + +Thanks for the cheque. You are very confiding to send it without +looking at the account. But I have packed up the "Archives," which poor +dear Busk handed over to me, and will leave them at the Athenaeum for +you. Among them you will find the account book. There are two or three +cases, when I was absent, in which the names are not down. I have no +doubt Frankland gave them to me by letter, but the book was at home and +they never got set down. Peccavi! + +I have been picking up in the most astonishing way during the last +fortnight or three weeks at Eastbourne. My doctor, Hames, carefully +examined my heart yesterday, and told me that though some slight +indications were left, he should have thought nothing of them if he had +not followed the whole history of the case. With fresh air and exercise +and careful avoidance of cold and night air I am to be all right again +in a few months. + +I am not fond of coddling; but as Paddy gave his pig the best corner in +his cabin--because "shure, he paid the rint"--I feel bound to take care +of myself as a household animal of value, to say nothing of any other +grounds. So, much as I should like to be with you all on the 3rd, I +must defer to the taboo. + +The wife got a nasty bronchitic cold as soon as she came up. She is +much better now. But I shall be glad to get her down to Eastbourne +again. + +Except that, we are all very flourishing, as I hope you are. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.5. + +1889. + +[The events to be chronicled in this year are, as might be expected, +either domestic or literary. The letters are full of allusions to his +long controversy in defence of Agnosticism, mainly with Dr. Wace, who +had declared the use of the name to be a "mere evasion" on the part of +those who ought to be dubbed infidels (Apropos of this controversy, a +letter may be cited which appeared in the "Agnostic Annual" for 1884, +in answer to certain inquiries from the editor as to the right +definition of Agnosticism:--] + +Some twenty years ago, or thereabouts, I invented the word "Agnostic" +to denote people who, like myself, confess themselves to be hopelessly +ignorant concerning a variety of matters, about which metaphysicians +and theologians, both orthodox and heterodox, dogmatise with the utmost +confidence, and it has been a source of some amusement to me to watch +the gradual acceptance of the term and its correlate, "Agnosticism" (I +think the "Spectator" first adopted and popularised both), until now +Agnostics are assuming the position of a recognised sect, and +Agnosticism is honoured by especial obloquy on the part of the +orthodox. Thus it will be seen that I have a sort of patent right in +"Agnostic" (it is my trade mark), and I am entitled to say that I can +state authentically what was originally meant by Agnosticism. What +other people may understand by it, by this time, I do not know. If a +General Council of the Church Agnostic were held, very likely I should +be condemned as a heretic. But I speak only for myself in answering +these questions. + +1. Agnosticism is of the essence of science, whether ancient or modern. +It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that +which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe. + +2. Consequently Agnosticism puts aside not only the greater part of +popular theology, but also the greater part of popular anti-theology. +On the whole, the "bosh" of heterodoxy is more offensive to me than +that of orthodoxy, because heterodoxy professes to be guided by reason +and science, and orthodoxy does not. + +3. I have no doubt that scientific criticism will prove destructive to +the forms of supernaturalism which enter into the constitution of +existing religions. On trial of any so-called miracle the verdict of +science is "Not proven." But true Agnosticism will not forget that +existence, motion, and law-abiding operation in nature are more +stupendous miracles than any recounted by the mythologies, and that +there may be things, not only in the heavens and earth, but beyond the +intelligible universe, which "are not dreamt of in our philosophy." The +theological "gnosis" would have us believe that the world is a +conjurer's house; the anti-theological "gnosis" talks as if it were a +"dirt-pie," made by the two blind children, Law and Force. Agnosticism +simply says that we know nothing of what may be behind phenomena.); [to +the building of the new house at Eastbourne, and to the marriage in +quick succession of his two youngest daughters, whereby, indeed, the +giving up of the house in London and definite departure from London was +made possible. + +All the early part of the year, till he found it necessary to go to +Switzerland again, he stayed unwillingly in Eastbourne, from time to +time running up to town, or having son or daughter to stay with him for +a week, his wife being too busy to leave town, with the double +preparations for the weddings on hand, so that he writes to her:] "I +feel worse than the 'cowardly agnostic' I am said to be--for leaving +you to face your botherations alone." [One can picture him still firm +of tread, with grizzled head a little stooped from his square +shoulders, pacing the sea wall with long strides, or renewing somewhat +of his strength as it again began to fail, in the keener air of the +downs, warmly defended against chill by a big cap--for he had been +suffering from his ears--and a long rough coat. He writes (February +22):] "I have bought a cap with flaps to protect my ears. I look more +'doggy' than ever." [And on March 3:--] + +We have had a lovely day, quite an Italian sky and sea, with a good +deal of Florentine east wind. I walked up to the Signal House, and was +greatly amused by a young sheep-dog whose master could hardly get him +away from circling round me and staring at me with a short dissatisfied +bark every now and then. It is the undressed wool of my coat bothers +all the dogs. They can't understand why a creature which smells so like +a sheep should walk on its hind legs. I wish I could have relieved that +dog's mind, but I did not see my way to an explanation. + +From this time on, the effects of several years' comparative rest +became more perceptible. His slowly returning vigour was no longer +sapped by the unceasing strain of multifarious occupations. And if his +recurrent ill-health sometimes seems too strongly insisted on, it must +be remembered that he had always worked at the extreme limit of his +powers--the limit, as he used regretfully to say, imposed on his brain +by his other organs--and that after his first breakdown he was never +very far from a second. When this finally came in 1884, his forces were +so far spent that he never expected to recover as he did. + +In the marriage this year of his youngest daughter, Huxley was doomed +to experience the momentary little twinge which will sometimes come to +the supporter of an unpopular principle when he first puts it into +practice among his own belongings. + +Athenaeum Club, January 14, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just left the x "Archives" here for you. I left them on my table +by mischance when I came here on the x day. + +I have a piece of family news for you. My youngest daughter Ethel is +going to marry John Collier. + +I have always been a great advocate for the triumph of common sense and +justice in the "Deceased Wife's Sister" business--and only now +discover, that I had a sneaking hope that all of my own daughters would +escape that experiment! + +They are quite suited to one another and I would not wish a better +match for her. And whatever annoyances and social pin-pricks may come +in Ethel's way, I know nobody less likely to care about them. + +We shall have to go to Norway, I believe, to get the business done. + +In the meantime, my wife (who has been laid up with bronchitic cold +ever since we came home) and I have had as much London as we can stand, +and are off to-morrow to Eastbourne again, but to more sheltered +quarters. + +I hope Lady Hooker and you are thriving. Don't conceal the news from +her, as my wife is always accusing me of doing. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +To Mr. W.F. Collier. + +4 Marlborough Place, January 24, 1889. + +Many thanks for your kind letter. I have as strong an affection for +Jack as if he were my own son, and I have felt very keenly the ruin we +involuntarily brought upon him--by our poor darling's terrible illness +and death. So that if I had not already done my best to aid and abet +other people in disregarding the disabilities imposed by the present +monstrous state of the law, I should have felt bound to go as far as I +could towards mending his life. Ethel is just suited to him...Of course +I could have wished that she should be spared the petty annoyances +which she must occasionally expect. But I know of no one less likely to +care for them. + +Your Shakespere parable is charming--but I am afraid it must be put +among the endless things that are read IN to the "divine Williams" as +the Frenchman called him. [The second part of the letter replies to the +question whether Shakespeare had any notion of the existence of the +sexes in plants and the part played in their fertilisation by insects, +which, of course, would be prevented from visiting them by rainy +weather, when he wrote in the "Midsummer Night's Dream":-- + +The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye, +And when she weeps, weeps every little flower +Lamenting some enforced chastity.] + +There was no knowledge of the sexes of plants in Shakespere's time, +barring some vague suggestion about figs and dates. Even in the 18th +century, after Linnaeus, the observations of Sprengel, who was a man of +genius, and first properly explained the action of insects, were set +aside and forgotten. + +I take it that Shakespere is really alluding to the "enforced chastity" +of Dian (the moon). The poets ignore that little Endymion business when +they like! + +I have recovered in such an extraordinary fashion that I can plume +myself on being an "interesting case," though I am not going to compete +with you in that line. And if you look at the February "Nineteenth" I +hope you will think that my brains are none the worse. But perhaps that +conceited speech is evidence that they are. + +We came to town to make the acquaintance of Nettie's fiance, and I am +happy to say the family takes to him. When it does not take to anybody, +it is the worse for that anybody. + +So, before long, my house will be empty, and as my wife and I cannot +live in London, I think we shall pitch our tent in Eastbourne. Good +Jack offers to give us a pied-a-terre when we come to town. To-day we +are off to Eastbourne again. Carry off Harry, who is done up from too +zealous Hospital work. However, it is nothing serious. + +The following is in reply to a request that he would write a letter, as +he describes it elsewhere, "about the wife's sister business--for the +edification of the peers." + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, March 12, 1889. + +My dear Donnelly, + +I feel "downright mean," as the Yankees say, that I have not done for +the sake of right and justice what I am moved to do now that I have a +personal interest in the matter of the directest kind; and I rather +expect that will be thrown in my teeth if my name is at the bottom of +anything I write. + +On the other hand, I loathe anonymity. However, we can take time to +consider that point. + +Anyhow I will set to work on the concoction of a letter, if you will +supply me with the materials which will enable me to be thoroughly +posted up in the facts. + +I have just received your second letter. Pity you could not stay over +yesterday--it was very fine. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The letter in question is as follows:--] + +April 30, 1889. + +Dear Lord Hartington, + +I am assured by those who know more about the political world than I +do, that if Lord Salisbury would hold his hand and let his party do as +they like about the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill which is to come on +next week, it would pass. Considering the irritation against the +bishops and a certain portion of the lay peers among a number of people +who have the means of making themselves heard and felt, which is kept +up and aggravated, as time goes on, by the action of the Upper House in +repeatedly snubbing the Lower, about this question, I should have +thought it (from a Conservative point of view) good policy to heal the +sore. + +The talk of Class versus Mass is generally mere clap-trap; but, in this +case, there is really no doubt that a fraction of the Classes stands in +the way of the fulfilment of a very reasonable demand on the part of +the Masses. + +A clear-headed man like Lord Salisbury would surely see this if it were +properly pressed on his attention. + +I do not presume to say whether it is practicable or convenient for the +Leader of the Liberal Unionist party to take any steps in this +direction; and I should hardly have ventured to ask you to take this +suggestion into consideration if the interest I have always taken in +the D.W.S. Bill had not recently been quickened by the marriage of one +of my daughters as a Deceased Wife's Sister. + +I am, etc. + +[Meantime the effect of Eastbourne, which Sir John Donnelly had induced +him to try, was indeed wonderful. He found in it the place he had so +long been looking for. References to his health read very differently +from those of previous years. He walked up Beachy Head regularly +without suffering from any heart symptoms. And though Beachy Head was +not the same thing as the Alps, it made a very efficient substitute for +a while, and it was not till April that the need of change began to +make itself felt. And so he made up his mind to listen no more to the +eager friends who wished him to pitch his tent near them at either end +of Surrey, but to settle down at Eastbourne, and, by preference, to +build a house of the size and on the spot that suited himself, rather +than to take any existing house lower down in the town. He must have +been a trifle irritated by unsolicited advice when he wrote the +following:--] + +It is very odd that people won't give one credit for common sense. We +have tried one winter here, and if we tried another we should be just +as much dependent upon the experience of longer residents as ever we +were. However, as I told X. I was going to settle matters to-morrow, +there won't be any opportunity for discussing that topic when he comes. +If we had taken W.'s house, somebody would have immediately told us +that we had chosen the dampest site in winter and the stuffiest in +summer, and where, moreover, the sewage has to be pumped up into the +main drain. + +[He finally decided upon a site on the high ground near Beachy Head, a +little way back from the sea front, at the corner of the Staveley and +Buxton Roads, with a guarantee from the Duke of Devonshire's agent that +no house should be built at the contiguous end of the adjoining plot of +land in the Buxton Road, a plot which he himself afterwards bought. The +principal rooms were planned for the back of the house, looking +south-west over open gardens to the long line of downs which culminate +in Beachy Head, but with due provision against southerly gales and +excess of sunshine. + +On May 29 the builder's contract was accepted, and for the rest of the +year the progress of the house, which was designed by his son-in-law, +F.W. Waller, afforded a constant interest. + +Meantime, with the improvement in his general health, the old appetite +for work returned with increased and unwonted zest. For the first time +in his life he declares that he enjoyed the process of writing. As he +wrote somewhat later to his newly married daughter from Eastbourne, +where he had gone again very weary the day after her wedding: "Luckily +the bishops and clergy won't let me alone, so I have been able to keep +myself pretty well amused in replying." The work which came to him so +easily and pleasurably was the defence of his attitude of agnosticism +against the onslaught made upon it at the previous Church Congress by +Dr. Wace, the Principal of King's College, London, and followed up by +articles in the "Nineteenth Century" from the pen of Mr. Frederic +Harrison and Mr. Laing, the effect of which upon him he describes to +Mr. Knowles on December 30, 1888:--] + +I have been stirred up to the boiling pitch by Wace, Laing, and +Harrison in re Agnosticism, and I really can't keep the lid down any +longer. Are you minded to admit a goring article into the February +"Nineteenth"? + +[As for his health, he adds:--] + +I have amended wonderfully in the course of the last six weeks, and my +doctor tells me I am going to be completely patched up--seams caulked +and made seaworthy, so the old hulk may make another cruise. + +We shall see. At any rate I have been able and willing to write lately, +and that is more than I can say for myself for the first three-quarters +of the year. + +...I was so pleased to see you were in trouble about your house. Good +for you to have a taste of it for yourself. + +[To this controversy he contributed four articles; three directly in +defence of Agnosticism, the fourth on the value of the underlying +question of testimony to the miraculous. + +The first article, "Agnosticism," appeared in the February number of +the "Nineteenth Century". No sooner was this finished than he began a +fresh piece of work, "which," he writes, "is all about miracles, and +will be rather amusing." This, on the "Value of Testimony to the +Miraculous," appeared in the following number of the "Nineteenth +Century". It did not form part of the controversy on hand, though it +bore indirectly upon the first principles of agnosticism. The question +at issue, he urges, is not the possibility of miracles, but the +evidence to their occurrence, and if from preconceptions or ignorance +the evidence be worthless the historical reality of the facts attested +vanishes. The cardinal point, then, "is completely, as the author of +Robert Elsmere says, the value of testimony." + +[The March number also contained replies from Dr. Wace and Bishop Magee +on the main question, and an article by Mrs. Humphry Ward on a kindred +subject to his own, "The New Reformation." Of these he writes on +February 27:--] + +The Bishop and Wace are hammering away in the "Nineteenth". Mrs. Ward's +article very good, and practically an answer to Wace. Won't I stir them +up by and by. + +[And a few days later:--] + +Mrs. Ward's service consists in her very clear and clever exposition of +critical results and methods. + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, February 29, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I have just been delighted with Mrs. Ward's article. She has swept away +the greater part of Wace's sophistries as a dexterous and +strong-wristed housemaid sweeps away cobwebs with her broom, and saved +a lot of time. + +What in the world does the Bishop mean by saying that I have called +Christianity "sorry stuff" (page 370)? To my knowledge I never so much +as thought anything of the kind, let alone saying it. + +I shall challenge him very sharply about this, and if, as I believe, he +has no justification for his statement, my opinion of him will be very +considerably lowered. + +Wace has given me a lovely opening by his profession of belief in the +devils going into the swine. I rather hoped I should get this out of +him. + +I find people are watching the game with great interest, and if it +should be possible for me to give a little shove to the "New +Reformation," I shall think the fag end of my life well spent. + +After all, the reproach made to the English people that "they care for +nothing but religion and politics" is rather to their credit. In the +long run these are the two things that ought to interest a man more +than any others. + +I have been much bothered with ear-ache lately, but if all goes well I +will send you a screed by the middle of March. + +Snowing hard! They have had more snow within the last month than they +have known for ten years here. + +Ever yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[He set to work immediately, and within ten days despatched his second +contribution, "Agnosticism, a Rejoinder," which appeared in the April +number of the "Nineteenth Century". + +On March 3 he writes:--] + +I am possessed by a writing demon, and have pretty well finished in the +rough another article for Knowles, whose mouth is wide open for it. + +[And on the 9th:--] + +I sent off another article to Knowles last night--a regular facer for +the clericals. You can't think how I enjoy writing now for the first +time in my life. + +[He writes at greater length to Mr. Knowles] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, March 10, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +There's a Divinity that shapes the ends (of envelopes!) rough-hew them +how we will. This time I went and bought the strongest to be had, and +sealed him up with wax in the shop. I put no note inside, meaning to +write to you afterwards, and then I forgot to do so. + +I can't understand Peterborough nohow. However, so far as the weakness +of the flesh would permit me to abstain from smiting him and his +brother Amalekite, I have tried to turn the tide of battle to matters +of more importance. + +The pith of my article is the proposition that Christ was not a +Christian. I have not ventured to state my thesis exactly in that +form--fearing the Editor--but, in a mild and proper way, I flatter +myself I have demonstrated it. Really, when I come to think of the +claims made by orthodox Christianity on the one hand, and of the total +absence of foundation for them on the other, I find it hard to abstain +from using a phrase which shocked me very much when Strauss first +applied it to the Resurrection, "Welthistorischer Humbug!" + +I don't think I have ever seen the portrait you speak of. I remember +the artist--a clever fellow, whose name, of course, I forget--but I do +not think I saw his finished work. Some of these days I will ask to see +it. + +I was pretty well finished after the wedding, and bolted here the next +day. I am sorry to say I could not get my wife to come with me. If she +does not knock up I shall be pleasantly surprised. The young couple are +flourishing in Paris. I like what I have seen of him very much. + +What is the "Cloister scheme"? [It referred to a plan for using the +cloisters of Westminster Abbey to receive the monuments of +distinguished men, so as to avoid the necessity of enlarging the Abbey +itself.] Recollect how far away I am from the world, the flesh and the +d--. + +Are you and Mrs. Knowles going to imitate the example of Eginhard and +Emma? What good pictures you will have in your monastery church! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And again, a few days later:--] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne; March 15, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I am sending my proof back to Spottiswoode's. I did not think the +manuscript would make so much, and I am afraid it has lengthened in the +process of correction. + + +You have a reader in your printer's office who provides me with jokes. +Last time he corrected, where my manuscript spoke of the pigs as +unwilling "porters" of the devils, into "porkers." And this time, when +I, writing about the Lord's Prayer, say "current formula," he has it +"canting formula." If only Peterborough had got hold of that! And I am +capable of overlooking anything in a proof. + +You see we have got to big questions now, and if these are once fairly +before the general mind all the King's horses and all the King's men +won't put the orthodox Humpty Dumpty where he was before. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[After the article came out he wrote again to Mr. Knowles:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, N.W., April 14, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I am going to try and stop here, desolate as the house is now all the +chicks have flown, for the next fortnight. Your talk of the inclemency +of Torquay is delightfully consoling. London has been vile. + +I am glad you are going to let Wace have another "go." My object, as +you know, in the whole business has been to rouse people to think... + +Considering that I got named in the House of Commons last night as an +example of a temperate and well-behaved blasphemer, I think I am +attaining my object. [In the debate upon the Religious Prosecutions +Abolition Bill, Mr. Addison said "the last article by Professor Huxley +in the "Nineteenth Century" showed that opinion was free when it was +honestly expressed."--"Times" April 14.] + +Of course I go for a last word, and I am inclined to think that +whatever Wace may say, it may be best to get out of the region of +controversy as far as possible and hammer in two big nails--(1) that +the Demonology of Christianity shows that its founders knew no more +about the spiritual world than anybody else, and (2) that Newman's +doctrine of "Development" is true to an extent of which the Cardinal +did not dream. + +I have been reading some of his works lately, and I understand now why +Kingsley accused him of growing dishonesty. + +After an hour or two of him I began to lose sight of the distinction +between truth and falsehood. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +If you are at home any day next week I will look in for a chat. + +[The controversy was completed by a third article, "Agnosticism and +Christianity," in the June number of the "Nineteenth Century". There +was a humorous aspect of this article which tickled his fancy +immensely, for he drove home his previous arguments by means of an +authority whom his adversaries could not neglect, though he was the +last man they could have expected to see brought up against them in +this connection--Cardinal Newman. There is no better evidence for +ancient than for modern miracles, he says in effect; let us therefore +accept the teachings of the Church which maintains a continuous +tradition on the subject. But there is a very different conclusion to +be drawn from the same premises; all may be regarded as equally +doubtful, and so he writes on May 30 to Sir J. Hooker:--] + +By the way, I want you to enjoy my wind-up with Wace in this month's +"Nineteenth" in the reading as much as I have in the writing. It's as +full of malice [I.e. in the French sense of the word.] as an egg is +full of meat, and my satisfaction in making Newman my accomplice has +been unutterable. That man is the slipperiest sophist I have ever met +with. Kingsley was entirely right about him. + +Now for peace and quietness till after the next Church Congress! + +[Three other letters to Mr. Knowles refer to this article.] + +4 Marlborough Place, N.W., May 4, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I am at the end of my London tether, and we go to Eastbourne (3 +Jevington Gardens again) on Monday. + +I have been working hard to finish my paper, and shall send it to you +before I go. + +I am astonished at its meekness. Being reviled, I revile not; not an +exception, I believe, can be taken to the wording of one of the +venomous paragraphs in which the paper abounds. And I perceive the +truth of a profound reflection I have often made, that reviling is +often morally superior to not reviling. + +I give up Peterborough. His "Explanation" is neither straightforward, +nor courteous, nor prudent. Of which last fact, it may be, he will be +convinced when he reads my acknowledgment of his favours, which is +soft, not with the softness of the answer which turneth away wrath, but +with that of the pillow which smothered Desdemona. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I shall try to stand an hour or two of the Academy dinner, and hope it +won't knock me up. + +4 Marlborough Place, N.W., May 6, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +If I had not gone to the Academy dinner I might have kept my promise +about sending you my paper to-day. I indulged in no gastronomic +indiscretions, and came away after H.R.H.'s speech, but I was dead beat +all yesterday, nevertheless. + +We are off to Eastbourne, and I will send the manuscript from there; +there is very little to do. + +Such a waste! I shall have to omit a paragraph that was really a +masterpiece. + +For who should I come upon in one of the rooms but the Bishop! As we +shook hands, he asked whether that was before the fight or after; and I +answered, "A little of both." Then we spoke our minds pretty plainly; +and then we agreed to bury the hatchet. [As he says ("Collected Essays" +5 210), this chance meeting ended "a temporary misunderstanding with a +man of rare ability, candour, and wit, for whom I entertained a great +liking and no less respect."] + +So yesterday I tore up THE paragraph. It was so appropriate I could not +even save it up for somebody else! + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, May 22, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I sent back my proof last evening. I shall be in town Friday afternoon +to Monday morning next, having a lot of things to do. So you may as +well let me see a revise of the whole. Did you not say to me, "sitting +by a sea-coal fire" (I say nothing about a "parcel gilt goblet"), that +this screed was to be the "last word"? I don't mind how long it goes on +so long as I have the last word. But you must expect nothing from me +for the next three or four months. We shall be off abroad, not later +than the 8th June, and among the everlasting hills, a fico for your +controversies! Wace's paper shall be waste paper for me. Oh! This is a +"goak" which Peterborough would not understand. + +I think you are right about the wine and water business--I had my +doubts--but it was too tempting. All the teetotalers would have been on +my side. + +There is no more curious example of the influence of education than the +respect with which this poor bit of conjuring is regarded. Your genuine +pietist would find a mystical sense in thimblerig. I trust you have +properly enjoyed the extracts from Newman. That a man of his intellect +should be brought down to the utterance of such drivel--by Papistry, is +one of the strongest of arguments against that damnable perverter of +mankind, I know of. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Shortly afterwards, he received a long and rambling letter in +connection with this subject. Referring to the passage in the first +article, "the apostolic injunction to 'suffer fools gladly' should be +the rule of life of a true agnostic," the writer began by begging him +"to 'suffer gladly' one fool more," and after several pages wound up +with a variation of the same phrase. It being impossible to give any +valid answer to his hypothetical inquiries, Huxley could not resist the +temptation to take the opening thus offered him, and replied:--] + +Sir, + +I beg leave to acknowledge your letter. I have complied with the +request preferred in its opening paragraph. + +Faithfully yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following letter also arises out of this controversy:-- + +Its occasion (writes Mr. Taylor) was one which I had written on seeing +an article in which he referred to the Persian sect of the Babis. I had +read with much interest the account of it in Count Gobineau's book, and +was much struck with the points of likeness to the foundation of +Christianity, and the contrast between the subsequent history of the +two; I asked myself how, given the points of similarity, to account for +the contrast; is it due to the Divine within the one, or the human +surroundings? This question I put to Professor Huxley, with many +apologies for intruding on his leisure, and a special request that he +would not suffer himself to be further troubled by any reply.] + +To Mr. Robert Taylor. + +4 Marlborough Place, N.W., June 8, 1889. + +Sir, + +In looking through a mass of papers, before I leave England for some +months among the mountains in search of health, I have come upon your +letter of 7th March. As a rule I find that out of the innumerable +letters addressed to me, the only ones I wish to answer are those the +writers of which are considerate enough to ask that they may receive no +reply, and yours is no exception. + +The question you put is very much to the purpose: a proper and full +answer would take up many pages; but it will suffice to furnish the +heads to be filled up by your own knowledge. + +1. The Church founded by Jesus has NOT made its way; has NOT permeated +the world--but DID become extinct in the country of its birth--as +Nazarenism and Ebionism. + +2. The Church that did make its way and coalesced with the State in the +4th century had no more to do with the Church founded by Jesus than +Ultramontanism has with Quakerism. It is Alexandrian Judaism and +Neoplatonistic mystagogy, and as much of the old idolatry and +demonology as could be got in under new or old names. + +3. Paul has said that the Law was schoolmaster to Christ with more +truth than he knew. Throughout the Empire the synagogues had their +cloud of Gentile hangers-on--those who "feared God"--and who were fully +prepared to accept a Christianity which was merely an expurgated +Judaism and the belief in Jesus as the Messiah. + +4. The Christian "Sodalitia" were not merely religious bodies, but +friendly societies, burial societies, and guilds. They hung together +for all purposes--the mob hated them as it now hates the Jews in +Eastern Europe, because they were more frugal, more industrious, and +lived better lives than their neighbours, while they stuck together +like Scotchmen. + +If these things are so--and I appeal to your knowledge of history that +they are so--what has the success of Christianity to do with the truth +or falsehood of the story of Jesus? + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following letter was written in reply to one from Mr. Clodd on the +first of the articles in this controversy. This article, it must be +remembered, not only replied to Dr. Wace's attack, but at the same time +bantered Mr. Frederic Harrison's pretensions on behalf of Positivism at +the expense alike of Christianity and Agnosticism.] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, February 19, 1889. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +I am very much obliged to you for your cheery and appreciative letter. +If I do not empty all Harrison's vials of wrath I shall be astonished! +But of all the sickening humbugs in the world, the sham pietism of the +Positivists is to me the most offensive. + +I have long been wanting to say my say about these questions, but my +hands were too full. This time last year I was so ill that I thought to +myself, with Hamlet, "the rest is silence." But my wiry constitution +has unexpectedly weathered the storm, and I have every reason to +believe that with renunciation of the devil and all his works (i.e. +public speaking, dining and being dined, etc.) my faculties may be +unimpaired for a good spell yet. And whether my lease is long or short, +I mean to devote them to the work I began in the paper on the Evolution +of Theology. + +You will see in the next "Nineteenth" a paper on the Evidence of +Miracles, which I think will be to your mind. + +Hutton is beginning to drivel! There really is no other word for it. +[This refers to an article in the "Spectator" on "Professor Huxley and +Agnosticism," February 9, 1889, which suggests, with regard to demoniac +possession, that the old doctrine of one spirit driving out another is +as good as any new explanation, and fortifies this conclusion by a +reference to the phenomena of hypnotism.] + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[To the same:--] + +4 Marlborough Place, April 15, 1889. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +The adventurous Mr. C. wrote to me some time ago. I expressed my regret +that I could do nothing for the evolution of tent-pegs. What wonderful +people there are in the world! + +Many thanks for calling my attention to "Antiqua Mater." I will look it +up. I have such a rooted objection to returning books, that I never +borrow one or allow anybody to lend me one if I can help it. + +I hear that Wace is to have another innings, and I am very glad of it, +as it will give me the opportunity of putting the case once more as a +connected argument. + +It is Baur's great merit to have seen that the key to the problem of +Christianity lies in the Epistle to the Galatians. No doubt he and his +followers rather overdid the thing, but that is always the way with +those who take up a new idea. + +I have had for some time the notion of dealing with the "Three great +myths"--1. Creation; 2. Fall; 3. Deluge; but I suspect I am getting to +the end of my tether physically, and shall have to start for the +Engadine in another month's time. + +Many thanks for your congratulations about my daughter's marriage. No +two people could be better suited for one another, and there is a +charming little grand-daughter of the first marriage to be cared for. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[One more piece of writing dates from this time. He writes to his wife +on March 2:--] + +A man who is bringing out a series of portraits of celebrities, with a +sketch of their career attached, has bothered me out of my life for +something to go with my portrait, and to escape the abominable bad +taste of some of the notices, I have done that. I shall show it you +before it goes back to Engel in proof. + +This sketch of his life is the brief autobiography which is printed at +the beginning of volume 1 of the "Collected Essays". He was often +pressed, both by friends and by strangers, to give them some more +autobiography; but moved either by dislike of any approach to egotism, +or by the knowledge that if biography is liable to give a false +impression, autobiography may leave one still more false, he constantly +refused to do so, especially so long as he had capacity for useful +work. I found, however, among his papers, an entirely different sketch +of his early life, half-a-dozen sheets describing the time he spent in +the East end, with an almost Carlylean sense of the horrible +disproportions of life. I cannot tell whether this was a first draft +for the present autobiography, or the beginnings of a larger +undertaking. + +Several letters of miscellaneous interest were written before the move +to the Engadine took place. They touch on such points as the excessive +growth of scientific clubs, the use of alcohol for brain workers, +advice to one who was not likely to "suffer fools gladly" about +applying for the assistant secretaryship of the British Association, +and the question of the effects of the destruction of immature fish, +besides personal matters.] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, March 22, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +I suppose the question of amalgamation with the Royal is to be +discussed at the Phil. Club. The sooner something of the kind takes +place the better. There is really no raison d'etre left for the Phil. +Club, and considering the hard work of scientific men in these days, +clubs are like hypotheses, not to be multiplied beyond necessity. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, March 26, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +The only science to which X. has contributed, so far as I know, is the +science of self-advertisement; and of that he is a master. + +When you and I were youngsters, we thought it the great thing to +exorcise the aristocratic flunkeyism which reigned in the Royal +Society--the danger now is that of the entry of seven devils worse than +the first, in the shape of rich engineers, chemical traders, and +"experts" (who have sold their souls for a good price), and who find it +helps them to appear to the public as if they were men of science. + +If the Phil Club had kept pure, it might have acted as a check upon the +intrusion of the mere trading element. But there seems to be no reason +now against Jack and Tom and Harry getting in, and the thing has become +an imposture. + +So I go with you for extinction, before we begin to drag in the mud. + +I wish I could take some more active part in what is going on. I am +anxious about the Society altogether. But though I am wonderfully well +so long as I live like a hermit, and get out into the air of the Downs, +either London, or bother, and still more both combined, intimate +respectfully but firmly, that my margin is of the narrowest. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following is to his daughter in Paris. Of course it was the +Tuileries, not the Louvre, which was destroyed in 1871.] + +I think you are quite right about French women. They are like French +dishes, uncommonly well cooked and sent up, but what the dickens they +are made of is a mystery. Not but what all womenkind are mysteries, but +there are mysteries of godliness and mysteries of iniquity. + +Have you been to see the sculptures in the Louvre?--dear me, I forgot +the Louvre's fate. I wonder where the sculpture is? I used to think it +the best thing in the way of art in Paris. There was a youthful Bacchus +who was the main support of my thesis as to the greater beauty of the +male figure! + +Probably I had better conclude. + +To Mr. E.T. Collings (of Bolton). + +4 Marlborough Place, April 9, 1889. + +Dear Sir, + +I understand that you ask me what I think about "alcohol as a stimulant +to the brain in mental work"? + +Speaking for myself (and perhaps I may add for persons of my +temperament), I can say, without hesitation, that I would just as soon +take a dose of arsenic as I would of alcohol, under such circumstances. +Indeed on the whole, I should think the arsenic safer, less likely to +lead to physical and moral degradation. It would be better to die +outright than to be alcoholised before death. + +If a man cannot do brain work without stimulants of any kind, he had +better turn to hand work--it is an indication on Nature's part that she +did not mean him to be a head worker. + +The circumstances of my life have led me to experience all sorts of +conditions in regard to alcohol, from total abstinence to nearly the +other end of the scale, and my clear conviction is the less the better, +though I by no means feel called upon to forgo the comforting and +cheering effect of a little. + +But for no conceivable consideration would I use it to whip up a tired +or sluggish brain. Indeed, for me there is no working time so good as +between breakfast and lunch, when there is not a trace of alcohol in my +composition. + +4 Marlborough Place, May 6, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +I meant to have turned up at the x on Thursday, but I was unwell and, +moreover, worried and bothered about Collier's illness at Venice, and +awaiting an answer to a telegram I sent there. He has contrived to get +scarlatina, but I hope he will get safe through it, as he seems to be +going on well. We were getting ready to go out until we were reassured +on that point. + +I thought I would go to the Academy dinner on Saturday, and that if I +did not eat and drink and came away early, I might venture. + +It was pleasant enough to have a glimpse of the world, the flesh (on +the walls, nude!), and the devil (there were several Bishops), but oh, +dear! how done I was yesterday. + +However, we are off to Eastbourne to-day, and I hope to wash three +weeks' London out of me before long. I think we shall go to Maloja +again early in June. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Capital portrait in the New Gallery, where I looked in for a quarter of +an hour on Saturday--only you never were quite so fat in the cheeks, +and I don't believe you have got such a splendid fur-coat! + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, May 22, 1889. + +...As to the Assistant Secretaryship of the British Association, I have +turned it over a great deal in my mind since your letter reached me, +and I really cannot convince myself that you would suit it or it would +suit you. I have not heard who are candidates or anything about it, and +I am not going to take any part in the election. But looking at the +thing solely from the point of view of your interests, I should +strongly advise you against taking it, even if it were offered. + +My pet aphorism "suffer fools gladly" should be the guide of the +Assistant Secretary, who, during the fortnight of his activity, has +more little vanities and rivalries to smooth over and conciliate than +other people meet with in a lifetime. Now you do NOT "suffer fools +gladly" on the contrary, you "gladly make fools suffer." I do not say +you are wrong--No tu quoque [Cf. above. But for due cause he could +suffer them "with a difference"; of a certain caller he writes: "What +an effusive bore he is! But I believe he was very kind to poor +Clifford, and restrained my unregenerate impatience of that kind of +creature."]--but that is where the danger of the explosion lies--not in +regard to the larger business of the Association. + +The risk is great and the 300 pounds a year is not worth it. Foster +knows all about the place; ask him if I am not right. + +Many thanks for the suggestion about Spirula. But the matter is in a +state in which no one can be of any use but myself. At present I am at +the end of my tether and I mean to be off to the Engadine a fortnight +hence--most likely not to return before October. + +Not even the sweet voice of -- will lure me from my retirement. The +Academy dinner knocked me up for three days, though I drank no wine, +ate very little, and vanished after the Prince of Wales' speech. The +truth is I have very little margin of strength to go upon even now, +though I am marvellously better than I was. + +I am very glad that you see the importance of doing battle with the +clericals. I am astounded at the narrowness of view of many of our +colleagues on this point. They shut their eyes to the obstacles which +clericalism raises in every direction against scientific ways of +thinking, which are even more important than scientific discoveries. + +I desire that the next generation may be less fettered by the gross and +stupid superstitions of orthodoxy than mine has been. And I shall be +well satisfied if I can succeed to however small an extent in bringing +about that result. + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +4 Marlborough Place, May 25, 1889. + +My dear Lankester, + +I cannot attend the Council meeting on the 29th. I have a meeting of +the Trustees of the British Museum to-day, and to be examined by a +Committee on Monday, and as the sudden heat half kills me I shall be +fit for nothing but to slink off to Eastbourne again. + +However, I do hope the Council will be very careful what they say or do +about the immature fish question. The thing has been discussed over and +over again ad nauseam, and I doubt if there is anything to be added to +the evidence in the blue-books. + +The idee fixe of the British public, fishermen, M.P.'s and ignorant +persons generally is that all small fish, if you do not catch them, +grow up into big fish. They cannot be got to understand that the +wholesale destruction of the immature is the necessary part of the +general order of things, from codfish to men. + +You seem to have some very interesting things to talk about at the +Royal Institution. + +Do you see any chance of educating the white corpuscles of the human +race to destroy the theological bacteria which are bred in parsons? + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, May 19, 1889. + +My dear Donnelly, + +The Vice-President's letter has brought home to me one thing very +clearly, and that is, that I had no business to sign the Report. Of +course he has a right to hold me responsible for a document to which my +name is attached, and I should look more like a fool than I ever wish +to do, if I had to tell him that I had taken the thing entirely on +trust. I have always objected to the sleeping partnership in the +Examination; and unless it can be made quite clear that I am nothing +but a "consulting doctor," I really must get out of it entirely. + +Of course I cannot say whether the Report is justified by the facts or +not, when I do not know anything about them. But from my experience of +what the state of things used to be, I should say that it is, in all +probability, fair. + +The faults mentioned are exactly those which always have made their +appearance, and I expect always will do so, and I do not see why the +attention of the teachers should not as constantly be directed to them. +You talk of Eton. Well, the reports of the Examiners to the governing +body, year after year, had the same unpleasing monotony, and I do not +believe that there is any educational body, from the Universities +downwards, which would come out much better, if the Examiners' reports +were published and if they did their duty. + +I am unable to see my way (and I suppose you are) to any better method +of State encouragement of science teaching than payment by results. The +great and manifest evil of that system, however, is the steady pressure +which it exerts in the development of every description of sham +teaching. And the only check upon this kind of swindling the public +seems to me to lie in the hands of the Examiners. I told Mr. Forster +so, ages ago, when he talked to me about the gradual increase of the +expenditure, and I have been confirmed in my opinion by all subsequent +experience. What the people who read the reports may say, I should not +care one twopenny d-- if I had to administer the thing. + +Nine out of ten of them are incompetent to form any opinion on an +educational subject; and as a mere matter of policy, I should, in +dealing with them, be only too glad to be able to make it clear that +some of the defects and shortcomings inherent in this (as in all +systems) had been disguised, and that even the most fractious of +Examiners had said their say without let or hindrance. + +It is the nature of the system which seems to me to demand as a +corrective incessant and severe watchfulness on the part of the +Examiners, and I see no harm if they a little overdo the thing in this +direction, for every sham they let through is an encouragement to other +shams and pot-teaching in general. + +And if the "great heart" of the people and its thick head can't be got +to appreciate honesty, why the sooner we shut up the better. Ireland +may be for the Irish, but science teaching is not for the sake of +science teachers. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.6. + +1889-90. + +From the middle of June to the middle of September, Huxley was in +Switzerland, first at Monte Generoso, then, when the weather became +more settled, at the Maloja. Here, as his letters show, he +"rejuvenated" to such an extent that Sir Henry Thompson, who was at the +Maloja, scoffed at the idea of his ever having had dilated heart.] + +Monte Generoso, Tessin, Suisse, June 25, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am quite agreed with the proposed arrangements for the x, and hope I +shall show better in the register of attendance next session. + +When I am striding about the hills here I really feel as if my +invalidism were a mere piece of malingering. When I am well I can walk +up hill and down dale as well as I did twenty years ago. But my margin +is abominably narrow, and I am at the mercy of "liver and lights." +Sitting up for long and dining are questions of margin. + +I do not know if you have been here. We are close on 4000 feet up and +look straight over the great plain of North Italy on the one side and +to a great hemicycle of mountains, Monte Rosa among them, on the other. +I do not know anything more beautiful in its way. But the whole time we +have been here the weather has been extraordinary. On the average, +about two thunderstorms per diem. I am sure that a good meteorologist +might study the place with advantage. The barometer has not varied +three-twentieths of an inch the whole time, notwithstanding the storms. + +I hear the weather has been bad all over Switzerland, but it is not +high and dry enough for me here, and we shall be off to the Maloja on +Saturday next, and shall stay there till we return somewhere in +September. Collier and Ethel will join us there in August. He is none +the worse for his scarlatina. + +"Aged Botanist?" marry come up! [Sir J. Hooker jestingly congratulated +him on taking up botany in his old age.] I should like to know of a +younger spark. The first time I heard myself called "the old gentleman" +was years ago when we were in South Devon. A half-drunken Devonian had +made himself very offensive, in the compartment in which my wife and I +were travelling, and got some "simple Saxon" from me, accompanied, I +doubt not, by an awful scowl "Ain't the old gentleman in a rage," says +he. + +I am very glad to hear of Reggie's success, and my wife joins with me +in congratulations. It is a comfort to see one's shoots planted out and +taking root, though the idea that one's cares and anxieties about them +are diminished, we find to be an illusion. + +I inclose cheque for my contributions due and to come. [For the x +Club.] If I go to Davy's Locker before October, the latter may go for +consolation champagne! + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[He writes from the Maloja on August 16 to Sir M. Foster, who had been +sitting on the Vaccination Commission:--] + +I wonder how you are prospering, whether you have vaccination or +anti-vaccination on the brain; or whether the gods have prospered you +so far as to send you on a holiday. We have been here since the +beginning of July. Monte Generoso proved lovely--but electrical. We had +on the average three thunderstorms every two days. Bellagio was as hot +as the tropics, and we stayed only a day, and came on here--where, +whatever else may happen, it is never too hot. The weather has been +good and I have profited immensely, and at present I do not know +whether I have a heart or not. But I have to look very sharp after my +liver. H. Thompson, who has been here with his son Herbert (clever +fellow, by the way), treats the notion that I ever had a dilated heart +with scorn! Oh these doctors! they are worse than theologians. + +[And again on August 31:--] + +I walked eighteen miles three or four days ago, and I think nothing of +one or two thousand feet up! I hope this state of things will last at +the sea-level. + +I am always glad to hear of and from you, but I have not been idle long +enough to forget what being busy means, so don't let your conscience +worry you about answering my letters. + +...X. is, I am afraid, more or less of an ass. The opposition he and +his friends have been making to the Technical Bill is quite +unintelligible to me. Y. may be, and I rather think is, a knave, but he +is no fool; and if I mistake not he is minded to kick the ultra-radical +stool down now that he has mounted by it. Make friends of that Mammon +of unrighteousness and swamp the sentimentalists. + +...I despise your insinuations. All my friends here have been +theological--Bishop, Chief Rabbi, and Catholic Professor. None of your +Maybrick discussors. + +On June 25 he wrote to Professor Ray Lankester, enclosing a letter to +be read at a meeting called by the Lord Mayor, on July 1, to hear +statements from men of science with regard to the recent increase of +rabies in this country, and the efficiency of the treatment discovered +by M. Pasteur for the prevention of hydrophobia. + +[I quote the latter from the report in "Nature" for July 4:--] + +Monte Generoso, Tessin, Suisse, June 25, 1889. + +My dear Lankester, + +I enclose herewith a letter for the Lord Mayor and a cheque for 5 +pounds as my subscription. I wish I could make the letter shorter, but +it is pretty much "pemmican" already. However, it does not much matter +being read if it only gets into print. + +It is uncommonly good of the Lord Mayor to stand up for Science, in the +teeth of the row the anti-vivisection pack--dogs and doggesses--are +making. + +May his shadow never be less. + +We shall be off to the Maloja at the end of this week, if the weather +mends. Thunderstorms here every day, and sometimes two or three a day +for the last ten days. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Monte Generoso, Switzerland, June 25, 1889. + +My Lord Mayor, + +I greatly regret my inability to be present at the meeting which is to +be held, under your Lordship's auspices, in reference to M. Pasteur and +his Institute. The unremitting labours of that eminent Frenchman during +the last half-century have yielded rich harvests of new truths, and are +models of exact and refined research. As such they deserve, and have +received, all the honours which those who are the best judges of their +purely scientific merits are able to bestow. But it so happens that +these subtle and patient searchings out of the ways of the infinitely +little--of the swarming life where the creature that measures +one-thousandth part of an inch is a giant--have also yielded results of +supreme practical importance. The path of M. Pasteur's investigations +is strewed with gifts of vast monetary value to the silk trades, the +brewer, and the wine merchant. And this being so, it might well be a +proper and graceful act on the part of the representatives of trade and +commerce in its greatest centre to make some public recognition of M. +Pasteur's services, even if there were nothing further to be said about +them. But there is much more to be said. M. Pasteur's direct and +indirect contributions to our knowledge of the causes of diseased +states, and of the means of preventing their recurrence, are not +measurable by money values, but by those of healthy life and diminished +suffering to men. Medicine, surgery, and hygiene have all been +powerfully affected by M. Pasteur's work, which has culminated in his +method of treating hydrophobia. I cannot conceive that any competently +instructed person can consider M. Pasteur's labours in this direction +without arriving at the conclusion that, if any man has earned the +praise and honour of his fellows, he has. I find it no less difficult +to imagine that our wealthy country should be other than ashamed to +continue to allow its citizens to profit by the treatment freely given +at the Institute without contributing to its support. Opposition to the +proposals which your Lordship sanctions would be equally inconceivable +if it arose out of nothing but the facts of the case thus presented. +But the opposition which, as I see from the English papers, is +threatened has really for the most part nothing to do either with M. +Pasteur's merits or with the efficacy of his method of treating +hydrophobia. It proceeds partly from the fanatics of laissez faire, who +think it better to rot and die than to be kept whole and lively by +State interference, partly from the blind opponents of properly +conducted physiological experimentation, who prefer that men should +suffer than rabbits or dogs, and partly from those who for other but +not less powerful motives hate everything which contributes to prove +the value of strictly scientific methods of enquiry in all those +questions which affect the welfare of society. I sincerely trust that +the good sense of the meeting over which your Lordship will preside +will preserve it from being influenced by those unworthy antagonisms, +and that the just and benevolent enterprise you have undertaken may +have a happy issue. + +I am, my Lord Mayor, your obedient servant, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hotel Kursaal, Maloja, Haute Engadine, July 8, 1889. + +My dear Lankester, + +Many thanks for your letter. I was rather anxious as to the result of +the meeting, knowing the malice and subtlety of the Philistines, but as +it turned out they were effectually snubbed. I was glad to see your +allusion to Coleridge's impertinences. It will teach him to think twice +before he abuses his position again. I do not understand Stead's +position in the Pall Mall. He snarls but does not bite. + +I am glad that the audience (I judge from the "Times" report) seemed to +take the points of my letter, and live in hope that when I see last +week's "Spectator" I shall find Hutton frantic. + +This morning a letter marked "Immediate" reached me from Bourne, date +July 3. I am afraid he does not read the papers or he would have known +it was of no use to appeal to me in an emergency. I am writing to him. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[On his return to England, however, a fortnight of London, interrupted +though it was by a brief visit to Mr. and Mrs. Humphry Ward at the +delightful old house of Great Hampden, was as much as he could stand. +"I begin to discover," he writes to Sir M. Foster, "I have a heart +again, a circumstance of which I had no reminder at the Maloja." So he +retreated at once to Eastbourne, which had done him so much good +before.] + +4 Marlborough Place, September 24, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +How's a' wi' ye'? We came back from the Engadine early in the month, +and are off to Eastbourne to-morrow. I rejuvenate in Switzerland and +senescate (if there is no such verb, there ought to be) in London, and +the sooner I am out of it the better. + +When are you going to have an x? I cannot make out what has become of +Spencer, except that he is somewhere in Scotland. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +We shall be at our old quarters--3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne--from +to-morrow onwards. + +[The next letter shows once more the value he set upon botanical +evidence in the question of the influence of conditions in the process +of evolution.] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, September 29, 1889. + +My dear Hooker, + +I hope to be with you at the Athenaeum on Thursday. It does one good to +hear of your being in such good working order. My knowledge of orchids +is infinitesimally small, but there were some eight or nine species +plentiful in the Engadine, and I learned enough to appreciate the +difficulties. Why do not some of these people who talk about the direct +influence of conditions try to explain the structure of orchids on that +tack? Orchids at any rate can't try to improve themselves in taking +shots at insects' heads with pollen bags--as Lamarck's Giraffes tried +to stretch their necks! + +Balfour's ballon d'essai [I.e. touching a proposed Roman Catholic +University for Ireland.] (I do not believe it could have been anything +more) is the only big blunder he has made, and it passes my +comprehension why he should have made it. But he seems to have dropped +it again like the proverbial hot potato. If he had not, he would have +hopelessly destroyed the Unionist party. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[At the end of the year he thanks Lord Tennyson for his gift of +"Demeter":--] + +December 26, 1889. + +My dear Tennyson, + +Accept my best thanks for your very kind present of "Demeter." I have +not had a Christmas Box I valued so much for many a long year. I envy +your vigour, and am ashamed of myself beside you for being turned out +to grass. I kick up my heels now and then, and have a gallop round the +paddock, but it does not come to much. + +With best wishes to you, and, if Lady Tennyson has not forgotten me +altogether, to her also. + +Believe me, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[A discussion in the "Times" this autumn, in which he joined, was of +unexpected moment to him, inasmuch as it was the starting-point for no +fewer than four essays in political philosophy, which appeared the +following year in the "Nineteenth Century". + +The correspondence referred to arose out of the heckling of Mr. John +Morley by one of his constituents at Newcastle in November 1889. The +heckler questioned him concerning private property in land, quoting +some early dicta from the "Social Statics" of Mr. Herbert Spencer, +which denied the justice of such ownership. Comments and explanations +ensued in the "Times"; Mr. Spencer declared that he had since partly +altered that view, showing that contract has in part superseded force +as the ground of ownership; and that in any case it referred to the +idea of absolute ethics, and not to relative or practical politics. + +Huxley entered first into the correspondence to point out present and +perilous applications of the absolute in contemporary politics. +Touching on a State guarantee of the title to land, he asks if there is +any moral right for confiscation:--In Ireland, he says, confiscation is +justified by the appeal to wrongs inflicted a century ago; in England +the theorems of "absolute political ethics" are in danger of being +employed to make this generation of land-owners responsible for the +misdeeds of William the Conqueror and his followers. ("Times" November +12.) + +His remaining share in the discussion consisted of a brief passage of +arms with Mr. Spencer on the main question [November 18.], and a reply +to another correspondent [November 21.], which brings forward an +argument enlarged upon in one of the essays, namely that if the land +belongs to all men equally, why should one nation claim one portion +rather than another? For several ownership is just as much an +infringement of the world's ownership as is personal ownership. +Moreover, history shows that land was originally held in several +ownership, and that not of the nation, but of the village community. + +These signs of renewed vigour induced Mr. Knowles to write him a +"begging letter," proposing an article for the "Nineteenth Century" +either in commendation of Bishop Magee's recent utterances--it would be +fine for eulogy to come from such a quarter after the recent +encounter--or on the general subject of which his "Times" letters dealt +with a part. + +Huxley's choice was for the latter. Writing on November 21, he says:--] + +Now as to the article. I have only hesitated because I want to get out +a new volume of essays, and I am writing an introduction which gives me +an immensity of trouble. I had made up my mind to get it done by +Christmas, and if I write for you it won't be. However, if you don't +mind leaving it open till the end of this month, I will see what can he +done in the way of a screed about, say, "The Absolute in Practical +Life." The Bishop would come in excellently; he deserves all praises, +and my only hesitation about singing them is that the conjunction +between the "Infidel" and the Churchman is just what the blatant +platform Dissenters who had been at him would like. I don't want to +serve the Bishop, for whom I have a great liking and respect, as the +bear served his sleeping master, when he smashed his nose in driving an +unfortunate fly away! + +By the way, has the Bishop published his speech or sermon? I have only +seen a newspaper report. + +[Soon after this, he proposed to come to town and talk over the article +with Mr. Knowles. The latter sent him a telegram--reply paid--asking +him to fix a day. The answer named a day of the week and a day of the +month which did not agree; whereupon Mr. Knowles wrote by the safer +medium of the post for an explanation, thinking that the post-office +clerks must have bungled the message, and received the following +reply:--] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, November 26, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +May jackasses sit upon the graves of all telegraph clerks! But the boys +are worse, and I shall have to write to the Postmaster-General about +the little wretch who brought your telegram the other day, when my mind +was deeply absorbed in the concoction of an article for THE Review of +our age. + +The creature read my answer, for he made me pay three halfpence extra +(I believe he spent it on toffy), and yet was so stupid as not to see +that meaning to fix next Monday or Tuesday, I opened my diary to give +the dates in order that there should be no mistake, and found Monday 28 +and Tuesday 29. + +And I suppose the little beast would say he did not know I opened it in +October instead of November! + +I hate such mean ways. Hang all telegraph boys! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Monday December 2, if you have nothing against it, and lunch if Mrs. +Knowles will give me some. + +[The article was finished by the middle of December and duly sent to +the editor, under the title of "Rousseau and Rousseauism." But fearing +that this title would surely attract attention among the working-men +for whom it was specially designed, Mr. Knowles suggested instead the +"Natural Inequality of Men," under which name it actually appeared in +January. So, too, in the case of a companion article in March, the +editorial pen was responsible for the change from the arid +possibilities of "Capital and Labour" to the more attractive title of +"Capital the Mother of Labour." + +With regard to this article and a further project of extending his +discussion of the subject, he +writes:--] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, December 14, 1889. + +My dear Knowles, + +I am very glad you think the article will go. It is longer than I +intended, but I cannot accuse myself of having wasted words, and I have +left out several things that might have been said, but which can come +in by and by. + +As to title, do as you like, but that you propose does not seem to me +quite to hit the mark. "Political Humbug: Liberty and Equality," struck +me as adequate, but my wife declares it is improper. "Political +Fictions" might be supposed to refer to Dizzie's novels! How about "The +Politics of the Imagination: Liberty and Inequality"? + +I should like to have some general title that would do for the +"letters" which I see I shall have to write. I think I will make six of +them after the fashion of my "Working Men's Lectures," as thus: (1) +Liberty and Equality; (2) Rights of Man; (3) Property; (4) Malthus; (5) +Government, the province of the State; (6) Law-making and Law-breaking. + +I understand you will let me republish them, as soon as the last is +out, in a cheap form. I am not sure I will not put them in the form of +"Lectures" rather than "Letters." + +Did you ever read Henry George's book "Progress and Poverty"? It is +more damneder nonsense than poor Rousseau's blether. And to think of +the popularity of the book! But I ought to be grateful, as I can cut +and come again at this wonderful dish. + +The mischief of it is I do not see how I am to finish the introduction +to my Essays, unless I put off sending you a second dose until March. + +I will send back the revise as quickly as possible. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +You do not tell me that there is anything to which Spencer can object, +so I suppose there is nothing. + +[And in an undated letter to Sir J. Hooker, he says:--] + +I am glad you think well of the "Human Inequality" paper. My wife has +persuaded me to follow it up with a view to making a sort of "Primer of +Politics" for the masses--by and by. "There's no telling what you may +come to, my boy," said the Bishop who reproved his son for staring at +John Kemble, and I may be a pamphleteer yet! But really it is time that +somebody should treat the people to common sense. + +[However, immediately after the appearance of this first article on +Human Inequality, he changed his mind about the Letters to Working Men, +and resolved to continue what he had to say in the form of essays in +the "Nineteenth Century". + +He then judged it not unprofitable to call public attention to the +fallacies which first found their way into practical politics through +the disciples of Rousseau; one of those speculators of whom he remarks +("Collected Essays" 1 312) that] "busied with deduction from their +ideal 'ought to be,' they overlooked the 'what has been,' the 'what +is,' and the 'what can be.'" "Many a long year ago," [he says in +Natural Rights and Political Rights (1 336)], "I fondly imagined that +Hume and Kant and Hamilton having slain the 'Absolute,' the thing must, +in decency, decease. Yet, at the present time, the same hypostatised +negation, sometimes thinly disguised under a new name, goes about in +broad daylight, in company with the dogmas of absolute ethics, +political and other, and seems to be as lively as ever." This was to +his mind one of those instances of wrong thinking which lead to wrong +acting--the postulating a general principle based upon insufficient +data, and the deduction from it of many and far-reaching practical +consequences. This he had always strongly opposed. His essay of 1871, +"Administrative Nihilism," was directed against a priori individualism; +and now he proceeded to restate the arguments against a priori +political reasoning in general, which seemed to have been forgotten or +overlooked, especially by the advocates of compulsory socialism. And +here it is possible to show in some detail the care he took, as was his +way, to refresh his knowledge and bring it up to date, before writing +on any special point. It is interesting to see how thoroughly he went +to work, even in a subject with which he was already fairly acquainted. +As in the controversy of 1889 I find a list of near a score of books +consulted, so here one note-book contains an analysis of the origin and +early course of the French Revolution, especially in relation to the +speculations of the theorists; the declaration of the rights of man in +1789 is followed by parallels from Mably's "Droits et Devoirs du +Citoyen" and "De la Legislation", and by a full transcript of the 1793 +Declaration, with notes on Robespierre's speech at the Convention a +fortnight later. There are copious notes from Dunoyer, who is quoted in +the article, while the references to Rocquain's "Esprit +Revolutionnaire" led to an English translation of the work being +undertaken, to which he contributed a short preface in 1891. + +It was the same with other studies. He loved to visualise his object +clearly. The framework of what he wished to say would always be drawn +out first. In any historical matter he always worked with a map. In +natural history he well knew the importance of studying distribution +and its bearing upon other problems; in civil history he would draw +maps to illustrate either the conditions of a period or the spread of a +civilising nation. For instance, among sketches of the sort which +remain, I have one of the Hellenic world, marked off in 25-mile circles +from Delos as centre; and a similar one for the Phoenician world, +starting from Tyre. Sketch maps of Palestine and Mesopotamia, with +notes from the best authorities on the geography of the two countries, +belong in all probability to the articles on "The Flood" and +"Hasisadra's Adventure." To realise clearly the size, position, and +relation of the parts to the whole, was the mechanical instinct of the +engineer which was so strong in him. + +The four articles which followed in quick succession on "The Natural +Inequality of Man," "Natural and Political Rights," "Capital the Mother +of Labour," and "Government," appeared in the January, February, March, +and May numbers of the "Nineteenth Century", and, as was said above, +are directed against a priori reasoning in social philosophy. The +first, which appeared simultaneously with Mr. Herbert Spencer's article +on "Justice," in the "Nineteenth Century", assails, on the ground of +fact and history, the dictum that men are born free and equal, and have +a natural right to freedom and equality, so that property and political +rights are a matter of contract. History denies that they thus +originated; and, in fact, "proclaim human equality as loudly as you +like, Witless will serve his brother." Yet, in justice to Rousseau and +the influence he wielded, he adds:--] + +It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our +beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our +instincts. + +Thus if, in their plain and obvious sense, the doctrines which Rousseau +advanced are so easily upset, it is probable that he had in his mind +something which is different from that sense. + +[When they sought speculative grounds to justify the empirical truth:--] + +that it is desirable in the interests of society, that all men should +be as free as possible, consistently with those interests, and that +they should all be equally bound by the ethical and legal obligations +which are essential to social existence, "the philosophers," as is the +fashion of speculators, scorned to remain on the safe if humble ground +of experience, and preferred to prophesy from the sublime cloudland of +the a priori. + +[The second of these articles is an examination of Henry George's +doctrines as set forth in "Progress and Poverty". His relation to the +physiocrats is shown in a preliminary analysis of the term "natural +rights which have no wrongs," and are antecedent to morality, from +which analysis are drawn the results of confounding natural with moral +rights. + +Here again is the note of justice to an argument in an unsound shape +(page 369): "There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that +opinions are worthless because they are badly argued." And a trifling +abatement of the universal and exclusive form of Henry George's +principle may make it true, while even unamended it may lead to +opposite conclusions--to the justification of several ownership in land +as well as in any other form of property. + +The third essay of the series, "Capital the Mother of Labour" +("Collected Essays" 9 147), was an application of biological methods to +social problems, designed to show that the extreme claims of labour as +against capital are ill-founded. + +In the last article, "Government," he traces the two extreme +developments of absolute ethics, as shown in anarchy and regimentation, +or unrestrained individualism and compulsory socialism. The key to the +position, of course, lies in the examination of the premisses upon +which these superstructures are raised, and history shows that:--] + +So far from the preservation of liberty and property and the securing +of equal rights being the chief and most conspicuous object aimed at by +the archaic politics of which we know anything, it would be a good deal +nearer the truth to say that they were federated absolute monarchies, +the chief purpose of which was the maintenance of an established church +for the worship of the family ancestors. + +[These articles stirred up critics of every sort and kind; socialists +who denounced him as an individualist, land nationalisers who had not +realised the difference between communal and national ownership, or men +who denounced him as an arm-chair cynic, careless of the poor and +ignorant of the meaning of labour. Mr. Spencer considered the chief +attack to be directed against his position; the regimental socialists +as against theirs, and:--] + +as an attempt to justify those who, content with the present, are +opposed to all endeavours to bring about any fundamental change in our +social arrangements (ib. page 423). + +So far from this, he continues:--] + +Those who have had the patience to follow me to the end will, I trust, +have become aware that my aim has been altogether different. Even the +best of modern civilisations appears to me to exhibit a condition of +mankind which neither embodies any worthy ideal nor even possesses the +merit of stability. I do not hesitate to express my opinion that, if +there is no hope of a large improvement of the condition of the greater +part of the human family; if it is true that the increase of knowledge, +the winning of a greater dominion over Nature which is its consequence, +and the wealth which follows upon that dominion, are to make no +difference in the extent and the intensity of Want, with its +concomitant physical and moral degradation, among the masses of the +people, I should hail the advent of some kindly comet, which would +sweep the whole affair away, as a desirable consummation. What profits +it to the human Prometheus that he has stolen the fire of heaven to be +his servant, and that the spirits of the earth and of the air obey him, +if the vulture of pauperism is eternally to tear his very vitals and +keep him on the brink of destruction? + +Assuredly, if I believed that any of the schemes hitherto proposed for +bringing about social amelioration were likely to attain their end, I +should think what remains to me of life well spent in furthering it. +But my interest in these questions did not begin the day before +yesterday; and, whether right or wrong, it is no hasty conclusion of +mine that we have small chance of doing rightly in this matter (or +indeed in any other) unless we think rightly. Further, that we shall +never think rightly in politics until we have cleared our minds of +delusions, and more especially of the philosophical delusions which, as +I have endeavoured to show, have infested political thought for +centuries. My main purpose has been to contribute my mite towards this +essential preliminary operation. Ground must be cleared and levelled +before a building can be properly commenced; the labour of the navvy is +as necessary as that of the architect, however much less honoured; and +it has been my humble endeavour to grub up those old stumps of the a +priori which stand in the way of the very foundations of a sane +political philosophy. + +To those who think that questions of the kind I have been discussing +have merely an academic interest, let me suggest once more that a +century ago Robespierre and St. Just proved that the way of answering +them may have extremely practical consequences. + +[Without pretending to offer any offhand solution for so vast a +problem, he suggests two points in conclusion. One, that in considering +the matter we should proceed from the known to the unknown, and take +warning from the results of either extreme in self-government or the +government of a family; the other, that the central point is] "the fact +that the natural order of things--the order, that is to say, as +unmodified by human effort--does not tend to bring about what we +understand as welfare." [The population question has first to be faced. + +The following letters cover the period up to the trip to the Canaries, +already alluded to:--] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, January 6, 1890. + +My dear Foster, + +That capital photograph reached me just as we were going up to town +(invited for the holidays by our parents), and I put it in my bag to +remind me to write to you. Need I say that I brought it back again +without having had the grace to send a line of thanks? By way of making +my peace, I have told the Fine Art Society to send you a copy of the +engraving of my sweet self. I have not had it framed--firstly, because +it is a hideous nuisance to be obliged to hang a frame one may not +like; and secondly, because by possibility you might like some other +portrait better, in which case, if you will tell me, I will send that +other. I should like you to have something by way of reminder of T.H.H. + +When Harry [His younger son.] has done his work at Bart's at the end of +March I am going to give him a run before he settles down to practice. +Probably we shall go to the Canaries. I hear that the man who knows +most about them is Dr. Guillemard, a Cambridge man. "Kennst ihn du +wohl?" Perhaps he might give me a wrinkle. + +With our united best wishes to you all. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Eastbourne, January 13, 1890. + +My dear Hooker, + +We missed you on the 2nd, though you were quite right not to come in +that beastly weather. + +My boy Harry has had a very sharp attack of influenza at Bartholomew's, +and came down to us to convalesce a week ago, very much pulled down. I +hope you will keep clear of it. + +Harry's work at the hospital is over at the end of March, and before +the influenza business I was going to give him a run for a month or six +weeks before he settled down to practice. We shall go to the Canaries +as soon in April as possible. Are you minded to take a look at +Teneriffe? Only 4 1/2 days' sea--good ships. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[However, Sir J. Hooker was unable to join "the excursion to the Isles +of the Blest."] + +Eastbourne, January 27, 1890. + +My dear Foster, + +People have been at me to publish my notice of Darwin in the +"Proceedings of the Royal Society" in a separate form. + +If you have no objection, will you apply to the Council for me for the +requisite permission? + +But if you DO see any objection, I would rather not make the request. + +I think if I republish it I will add the "Times" article of 1859 to it. +Omega and Alpha! + +Hope you are flourishing. We shall be up for a few days next week. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Eastbourne, January 31, 1890. + +My dear Foster, + +Mind you let me know what points you think want expanding in the Darwin +obituary when we meet. + +We go to town on Tuesday for a few days, and I will meet you anywhere +or anywhen you like. Could you come and dine with us at 4 P.M. on +Thursday? If so, please let me know at once, that E. may kill the +fatted calf. + +Harry has been and gone and done it. We heard he had gone to Yorkshire, +and were anxious, thinking that at the very least a relapse after his +influenza (which he had sharply) had occurred. + +But the complaint was one with more serious sequelae still. Don't know +the young lady, but the youth has a wise head on his shoulders, and +though that did not prevent Solomon from overdoing the business, I have +every faith in his choice. + +Dr. Guillemard has kindly sent me a lot of valuable information; but as +I suggested to my boy yesterday, he may find Yorkshire air more +wholesome than that of the Canaries, and it is ten to one we don't go +after all. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[To his younger son:--] + +Eastbourne, January 30, 1890. + +You dear old humbug of a Boy, + +Here we have been mourning over the relapse of influenza, which alone, +as we said, could have torn you from your duties, and all the while it +was nothing but an attack of palpitation such as young people are +liable to and seem none the worse for after all. We are as happy that +you are happy as you can be yourself, though from your letter that +seems saying a great deal. I am prepared to be the young lady's slave; +pray tell her that I am a model father-in-law, with my love. (By the +way, you might mention her name; it is a miserable detail, I know, but +would be interesting.) Please add that she is humbly solicited to grant +leave of absence for the Teneriffe trip, unless she thinks Northampton +air more invigorating. + +Ever your loving dad, + +T.H. Huxley. + +On April 3, accompanied by his son, he left London on board the +"Aorangi". At Plymouth he had time to meet his friend W.F. Collier, and +to visit the Zoological Station, while], "to my great satisfaction," +[he writes], "I received a revise (i.e. of 'Capital the Mother of +Labour') for the May 'Nineteenth Century'--from Knowles. They must have +looked sharp at the printing-office." + +[It did not take him long to recover his sea-legs, and he thoroughly +enjoyed even the rougher days when the rolling of the ship was too much +for other people. The day before reaching Teneriffe he writes:--] + +I have not felt so well for a long time. I do nothing, have a +prodigious appetite, and Harry declares I am getting fat in the face. + +[Santa Cruz was reached early on April 10, and in the afternoon he +proceeded to Laguna, which he made his headquarters for a week. That +day he walked 10 miles, the next 15, and the third 20 in the course of +the day. He notes finding the characteristic Euphorbia and Heaths of +the Canaries; notes, too, one or two visitations of dyspepsia from +indigestible food. He writes from Laguna:--] + +From all that people with whom we meet tell me, I gather that the usual +massive lies about health resorts pervade the accounts of Teneriffe. +Santa Cruz would reduce me to jelly in a week, and I hear that Orotava +is worse--stifling. Guimar, whither we go to-morrow, is warranted to be +dry and everlasting sunshine. We shall see. One of the people staying +in the house said they had rain there for a fortnight together...I am +all right now, and walked some 15 miles up hill and down dale to-day, +and I am not more than comfortably tired. However, I am not going to +try the peak. I find it cannot be done without a night out at a +considerable height when the thermometer commonly goes down below +freezing, and I am not going to run that risk for the chance of seeing +even the famous shadows. + +[By some mischance, no letters from home reached him till the 26th, and +he writes from Guimar on the 23rd:--] + +A lady who lives here told me yesterday that a postmistress at one +place was in the habit of taking off the stamps and turning the letters +on one side! But that luckily is not a particular dodge with ours. + +We drove over here on the 17th. It is a very picturesque place 1000 +feet up in the midst of a great amphitheatre of high hills, facing +north, orange-trees laden with fruit, date palms and bananas are in the +garden, and there is lovely sunshine all day long. Altogether the +climate is far the best I have found anywhere here, and the house, +which is that of a Spanish Marquesa, only opened as a hotel this +winter, is very comfortable. I am sitting with the window wide open at +nine o'clock at night, and the stars flash as if the sky were +Australian. + +On Saturday we had a splendid excursion up to the top of the pass that +leads from here up to the other side of the island. Road in the proper +sense there was none, and the track incredibly bad, worse than any +Alpine path owing to the loose irregular stones. The mules, however, +pick their way like cats, and you have only to hold on. The pass is +6000 feet high, and we ascended still higher. Fortune favoured us. It +was a lovely day and the clouds lay in a great sheet a thousand feet +below. The peak, clear in the blue sky, rose up bare and majestic 5000 +feet out of as desolate a desert clothed with the stiff retama shrubs +(a sort of broom) as you can well imagine. [(The Canadas, which he +calls] "the one thing worth seeing there.") It took us three hours and +a half to get up, passing for a good deal of the time through a kind of +low brush of white and red cistuses in full bloom. We saw Palma on one +side, and Grand Canary on the other, beyond the layer of clouds which +enveloped all the lower part of the island. Coming down was worse than +going up, and we walked a good part of the way, getting back about six. +About seven hours in the saddle and walking. + +You never saw anything like the improvement in Harry. He is burnt deep +red; he says my nose is of the same hue, and at the end of the journey +he raced Gurilio, our guide, who understands no word of English any +more than we do Spanish, but we are quite intimate nevertheless. [My +brother indeed averred that his language of signs was far more +effectual than the Spanish which my father persisted in trying upon the +inhabitants. This guide, by the way, was very sceptical as to any +Englishman being equal to walking the seventeen miles, much less +beating him in a race over the stony track. His experience was entirely +limited to invalids.] + +He reiterates his distress at not getting letters from his wife: +"Certainly I will never run the risk of being so long without--never +again." When, after all, the delayed letters reached him on his way +back from the expedition to the Canadas, thanks to a traveller who +brought them up from Laguna, he writes (April 24):--] + +Catch me going out of reach of letters again. I have been horridly +anxious. Nobody--children or any one else--can be to me what you are. +Ulysses preferred his old woman to immortality, and this absence has +led me to see that he was as wise in that as in other things. + +[Here is a novel description of an hotel at Puerto Orotava:--] + +It is very pretty to look at, but all draughts. I compare it to the air +of a big wash-house with all the doors open, and it was agreed that the +likeness was exact. + +[On May 2 he sailed for Madeira by the "German", feeling already "ten +years younger" for his holiday. On the 3rd he writes:--] + +The last time I was in this place was in 1846. All my life lies between +the two visits. I was then twenty-one and a half and I shall be +sixty-five to-morrow. The place looks to me to have grown a good deal, +but I believe it is chiefly English residents whose villas dot the +hill. There were no roads forty-four years ago. Now there is one, I am +told, to Camera do Lobos nearly five miles long. That is the measure of +Portuguese progress in half a century. Moreover, the men have left off +wearing their pigtail caps and the women their hoods. + +[To his youngest daughter:--] + +Bella Vista Hotel, Funchal, May 6, 1890. + +Dearest Babs, + +This comes wishing you many happy returns of the day, though a little +late in the arrival. Harry sends his love, and desires me to say that +he took care to write a letter which should arrive in time, but +unfortunately forgot to mention the birthday in it! So I think, on the +whole, I have the pull of him. We ought to be back about the 18th or +19th, as I have put my name down for places in the "Conway Castle", +which is to call here on the 12th, and I do not suppose she will be +full. In the meanwhile, we shall fill up the time by a trip to the +other side of the island, on which we start to-morrow morning at 7.30. +You have to take your own provisions and rugs to sleep upon and under, +as the fleas la bas are said to be unusually fine and active. We start +quite a procession with a couple of horses, a guide, and two men +(owners of the nags) to carry the baggage; and I suspect that before +to-morrow night we shall have made acquaintance with some remarkably +bad apologies for roads. But the horses here seem to prefer going up +bad staircases at speed (with a man hanging on by the tail to steer), +and if you only stick to them they land you all right. I have developed +so much prowess in this line that I think of coming out in the +character of Buffalo Bill on my return. Hands and face of both of us +are done to a good burnt sienna, and a few hours more or less in the +saddle don't count. I do not think either of us have been so well for +years. + +You will have heard of our doings in Teneriffe from M--. The Canadas +there is the one thing worth seeing, altogether unique. As a health +resort I should say the place is a fraud--always excepting Guimar--and +that, excellent for people in good health, is wholly unfit for a real +invalid, who must either go uphill or downhill over the worst of roads +if he leaves the hotel. + +The air here is like that of South Devon at its best--very soft, but +not stifling as at Orotava. We had a capital expedition yesterday to +the Grand Corral--the ancient volcanic crater in the middle of the +island with walls some 3000 feet high, all scarred and furrowed by +ravines, and overgrown with rich vegetation. There is a little village +at the bottom of it which I should esteem as a retreat if I wished to +be out of sight and hearing of the pomps and vanities of this world. By +the way, I have been pretty well out of hearing of everything as it is, +for I only had three letters from M-- while we were in Teneriffe, and +not one here up to this date. After I had made all my arrangements to +start to-morrow I heard that a mail would be in at noon. So the letters +will have to follow us in the afternoon by one of the men, who will +wait for them. + +We went to-day to lunch with Mr. Blandy, the head of the principal +shipping agency here, whose wife is the daughter of my successor at the +Fishery Office. + +Well, our trip has done us both a world of good; but I am getting +homesick, and shall rejoice to be back again. I hope that Joyce is +flourishing, and Jack satisfied with the hanging of his pictures, and +that a millionaire has insisted on buying the picture and adding a +bonus. Our +best love to you all. + +Ever your loving Pater. + +Don't know M--'s whereabouts. But if she is with you, say I wrote her a +long screed (Number 8) and posted it to-day--with my love as a model +husband and complete letter-writer. + +[On returning home he found that the Linnean medal had been awarded +him.] + +4 Marlborough Place, May 18, 1890. + +My dear Hooker, + +How's a' wi' you? My boy and I came back from Madeira yesterday in +great feather. As for myself, riding about on mules, or horses, for six +to ten hours at a stretch--burning in sun or soaking in rain--over the +most entirely breakneck roads and tracks I have ever made acquaintance +with, except perhaps in Morocco--has proved a most excellent tonic, +cathartic, and alterative all in one. Existence of heart and stomach +are matters of faith, not of knowledge, with me at present. I hope it +may last, and I have had such a sickener of invalidism that my +intention is to keep severely out of all imprudences. + +But what is a man to do if his friends take advantage of his absence, +and go giving him gold medals behind his back? That you have been an +accomplice in this nefarious plot--mine own familiar friend whom I +trusted and trust--is not to be denied. Well, it is very pleasant to +have toil that is now all ancient history remembered, and I shall go to +the meeting and the dinner and make my speech in spite of as many +possible devils of dyspepsia as there are plates and dishes on the +table. + +We were lucky in getting in for nothing worse than heavy rolling, +either out or in. Teneriffe is well worth seeing. The Canadas is +something quite by itself, a bit of Egypt 6000 feet up with a bare +volcanic cone, or rather long barrow sticking up 6000 feet in the +middle of it. + +Otherwise, Madeira is vastly superior. I rode across from Funchal to +Sao Vicente, up to Paul da Serra, then along the coast to Santa Anna, +and back from Santa Anna to Funchal. I have seen nothing comparable +except in Mauritius, nor anything anywhere like the road by the cliffs +from Sao Vicente to Santa Anna. Lucky for me that my ancient nautical +habit of sticking on to a horse came back. A good deal of the road is +like a bad staircase, with no particular banisters, and a well of 1000 +feet with the sea at the bottom. Your heart would rejoice over the +great heaths. I saw one, the bole of which split into nearly equal +trunks; and one of these was just a metre in circumference, and had a +head as big as a moderate-sized ash. Gorse in full flower, up to 12 or +15 feet high. On the whole a singular absence of flowering herbs except +Cinerarias and, especially in Teneriffe, Echium. I did not chance to +see a Euphorbia in Madeira, though I believe there are some. In +Teneriffe they are everywhere in queer shapes, and there was a thing +that mimicked the commonest Euphorbia but had no milk, which I will ask +you about when I see you. The Euphorbias were all in flower, but this +thing had none. But you will have had enough of my scrawl. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.7. + +1890-1891. + +[Three letters of the first half of the year may conveniently be placed +here. The first is to Tyndall, who had just been delivering an +anti-Gladstonian speech at Belfast. The opening reference must be to +some newspaper paragraph which I have not been able to trace, just as +the second is to a paragraph in 1876, not long after Tyndall's +marriage, which described Huxley as starting for America with his +titled bride.] + +3 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, February 24, 1890. + +My dear Tyndall, + +Put down the three half-pints and the two dozen to the partnership +account. Ever since the "titled bride" business I have given up the +struggle against the popular belief that you and I constitute a firm. + +It's very hard on me in the decline of life to have a lively young +partner who thinks nothing of rushing six or seven hundred miles to +perform a war-dance on the sainted G.O.M., and takes the scalp of +Historicus as an hors d'oeuvre. + +All of which doubtless goes down to my account just as my poor innocent +articles confer a reputation for long-suffering mildness on you. + +Well! well! there is no justice in this world! With our best love to +you both. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[(The confusion in the popular mind continued steadily, so that at +last, when Tyndall died, Huxley received the doubtful honour of a +funeral sermon.) + +Dr. Pelseneer, to whom the next letter is addressed, is a Belgian +morphologist, and an authority upon the Mollusca. He it was who +afterwards completed Huxley's unfinished memoir on Spirula for the +"Challenger" report.] + +4 Marlborough Place, June 10, 1890. + +Dear Dr. Pelseneer, + +I gave directions yesterday for the packing up and sending to your +address of the specimens of Trigonia, and I trust that they will reach +you safely. + +I am rejoiced that you are about to take up the subject. I was but a +beginner when I worked at Trigonia, and I had always promised myself +that I would try to make good the many deficiencies of my little +sketch. But three or four years ago my health gave way completely, and +though I have recovered (no less to my own astonishment than to that of +the doctors) I am compelled to live out of London and to abstain from +all work which involves much labour. + +Thus science has got so far ahead of me that I hesitate to say much +about a difficult morphological question--all the more, as old men like +myself should be on their guard against over-much tenderness for their +own speculations. And I am conscious of a great tenderness for those +contained in my ancient memoir on the "Morphology of the Cephalous +Mollusca." Certainly I am entirely disposed to agree with you that the +Gasteropods and the Lamellibranchs spring from a common root--nearly +represented by the Chiton--especially by a hypothetical Chiton with one +shell plate. + +I always thought Nucula the key to the Lamellibranchs, and I am very +glad you have come to that conclusion on such much better evidence. + +I am, dear Dr. Pelseneer, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Towards the end of June he went for a week to Salisbury, taking long +walks in the neighbourhood, and exploring the town and cathedral, which +he confessed himself ashamed never to have seen before. + +He characteristically fixes its date in his memory by noting that the +main part of it was completed when Dante was a year old.] + +The White Hart, Salisbury, June 22, 1890. + +My dear Donnelly, + +Couldn't stand any more London, so bolted here yesterday morning, and +here I shall probably stop for the next few days. + +I have been trying any time the last thirty years to see Stonehenge, +and this time I mean to do it. I should have gone to-day, but the +weather was not promising, so I spent my Sunday morning in Old +Sarum--that blessed old tumulus with nine (or was it eleven?) burgesses +that used to send two members to Parliament when I was a child. Really +you Radicals are of some use after all! + +Poor old Smyth's death is just what I expected, though I did not think +the catastrophe was so imminent. [Warrington Wilkinson Smyth +(1817-1890), the geologist and mineralogist. In 1851 he was appointed +Lecturer on Mining and Mineralogy at the Royal School of Mines. After +the lectureships were separated in 1881, he retained the former until +his death. He was knighted in 1887.] + +Peace be with him; he never did justice to his very considerable +abilities, but he was a good fellow and a fine old crusted Conservative. + +I suppose it will be necessary to declare the vacancy and put somebody +in his place before long. + +I learned before I started that Smyth was to be buried in Cornwall, so +there is no question of attending at his funeral. + +I am the last of the original Jermyn Street gang left in the school +now--Ultimus Romanorum! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[This trip was taken by way of a holiday after the writing of an +article, which appeared in the "Nineteenth Century" for July 1890. It +was called "The Lights of the Church and the Light of Science," and may +be considered as written in fulfilment of the plan spoken of in the +letter to Mr. Clodd (above). Its subject was the necessary dependence +of Christian theology upon the historical accuracy of the Old +Testament; its occasion, the publication of a sermon in which, as a +counterblast to "Lux Mundi", Canon Liddon declared that accuracy to be +sanctioned by the use made of the Old Testament by Jesus Christ, and +bade his hearers close their ears against any suggestions impairing the +credit of those Jewish Scriptures which have received the stamp of His +Divine authority. + +Pointing out that, as in other branches of history, so here the +historical accuracy of early tradition was abandoned even by +conservative critics, who at all understood the nature of the problems +involved, Huxley proceeded to examine the story of the Flood, and to +show that the difficulties were little less in treating it--like the +reconcilers--as a partial than as a universal deluge. Then he discussed +the origin of the story, and criticised the attempt of the essayist in +"Lux Mundi" to treat this and similar stories as "types," which must be +valueless if typical of no underlying reality. These things are of +moment in speculative thought, for if Adam be not an historical +character, if the story of the Fall be but a type, the basis of Pauline +theology is shaken; they are of moment practically, for it is the story +of the Creation which is referred to in the] "speech (Matt. 19 5) +unhappily famous for the legal oppression to which it has been +wrongfully forced to lend itself" [in the marriage laws. + +In July 1890, Sir J.G.T. Sinclair wrote to him, calling his attention +to a statement of Babbage's that after a certain point his famous +calculating machine, contrary to all expectation, suddenly introduced a +new principle of numeration into a series of numbers (Extract from +Babbage's Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. Babbage shows that a calculating +machine can be constructed which, after working in a correct and +orderly manner up to 100,000,000, then leaps, and instead of continuing +the chain of numbers unbroken, goes at once to 100,010,002. "The law +which seemed at first to govern the series failed at the hundred +million and second term. This term is larger than we expected by +10,000. The law thus changes:-- + +100,000,001 +100,010,002 +100,030,003 +100,060,004 +100,100,005 +100,150,006 +100,210,007 +100,280,008. + +For a hundred or even a thousand terms they continued to follow the new +law relating to the triangular numbers, but after watching them for +2761 terms we find that this law fails at the 2762nd term. + +If we continue to observe we shall discover another law then coming +into action which also is different, dependent, but in a different +manner, on triangular numbers because a number of points agreeing with +their term may be placed in the form of a triangle, thus:-- + +(1 dot.) (3 dots in the form of a triangle.) (6 dots in the form of a +triangle.) (10 dots in the form of a triangle.) (one, three, six, ten). + +This will continue through about 1430 terms, when a new law is again +introduced over about 950 terms, and this too, like its predecessors, +fails and gives place to other laws which appear at different +intervals."), and asking what effect this phenomenon had upon the +theory of Induction. Huxley replied as follows:--] + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, July 21, 1890. + +Dear Sir, + +I knew Mr. Babbage, and am quite sure that he was not the man to say +anything on the topic of calculating machines which he could not +justify. + +I do not see that what he says affects the philosophy of induction as +rightly understood. No induction, however broad its basis, can confer +certainty--in the strict sense of the word. The experience of the whole +human race through innumerable years has shown that stones unsupported +fall to the ground, but that does not make it certain that any day next +week unsupported stones will not move the other way. All that it does +justify is the very strong expectation, which hitherto has been +invariably verified, that they will do just the contrary. + +Only one absolute certainty is possible to man--namely, that at any +given moment the feeling which he has exists. + +All other so-called certainties are beliefs of greater or less +intensity. + +Do not suppose that I am following Abernethy's famous prescription, +"take my pills," if I refer you to an essay of mine on "Descartes," and +a little book on Hume, for the fuller discussion of these points. +Hume's argument against miracles turns altogether on the fallacy that +induction can give certainty in the strict sense. + +We poor mortals have to be content with hope and belief in all matters +past and present--our sole certainty is momentary. + +I am yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Sir J.G.T. Sinclair, Bart. + +[Except for a last visit to London to pack his books, which proved a +heavier undertaking than he had reckoned upon, Huxley did not leave +Eastbourne this autumn, refusing Sir J. Donnelly's hospitable +invitation to stay with him in Surrey during the move, of which he +exclaims:--] + +Thank Heaven that is my last move--except to a still smaller residence +of a subterranean character! + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, September 19, 1890. + +My dear Donnelly, + +And my books--and watch-dog business generally? + +How is that to be transacted whether as in-patient or out-patient at +Firdale? Much hospitality hath made thee mad. + +Seriously, it's not to be done nohow. What between papers that don't +come, and profligate bracket manufacturers who keep you waiting for +months and then send the wrong things--and a general tendency of +everybody to do nothing right or something wrong--it is as much as the +two of us will do--to get in, and all in the course of the next three +weeks. + +Of course my wife has no business to go to London to superintend the +packing--but I should like to see anybody stop her. However, she has +got the faithful Minnie to do the actual work; and swears by all her +Gods and Goddesses she will only direct. + +It would only make her unhappy if I did not make pretend to believe, +and hope no harm may come of it. + +Tout a vous, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Another discussion which sprang up in the "Times", upon Medical +Education, evoked a letter from him ("Times" August 7), urging that the +preliminary training ought to be much more thorough and exact. The +student at his first coming is so completely habituated to learn only +from books or oral teaching, that the attempt to learn from things and +to get his knowledge at first hand is something new and strange. Thus a +large proportion of medical students spend much of their first year in +learning how to learn, and when they have done that, in acquiring the +preliminary scientific knowledge, with which, under any rational system +of education, they would have come provided. + +He urged, too, that they should have received a proper literary +education instead of a sham acquaintance with Latin, and insisted, as +he had so often done, on the literary wealth of their own language. + +Every one has his own ideas of what a liberal education ought to +include, and a correspondent wrote to ask him, among other things, +whether he did not think the higher mathematics ought to be included. +He replied:--] + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, August 16, 1890. + +I think mathematical training highly desirable, but advanced +mathematics, I am afraid, would be too great a burden in proportion to +its utility, to the ordinary student. + +I fully agree with you that the incapacity of teachers is the weak +point in the London schools. But what is to be expected when a man +accepts a lectureship in a medical school simply as a grappling-iron by +which he may hold on until he gets a hospital appointment? + +Medical education in London will never be what it ought to be, until +the "Institutes of Medicine," as the Scotch call them, are taught in +only two or three well-found institutions--while the hospital schools +are confined to the teaching of practical medicine, surgery, +obstetrics, and so on. + +[The following letters illustrate Huxley's keenness to correct any +misrepresentation of his opinions from a weighty source, amid the way +in which, without abating his just claims, he could make the peace +gracefully. + +In October Dr. Abbott delivered an address on "Illusions," in which, +without, of course, mentioning names, he drew an unmistakable picture +of Huxley as a thorough pessimist. A very brief report appeared in the +"Times" of October 9, together with a leading article upon the subject. +Huxley thereupon wrote to the "Times" a letter which throws light both +upon his early days and his later opinions:--] + +The article on "Illusions" in the "Times" of to-day induces me to +notice the remarkable exemplification of them to which you have drawn +public attention. The Reverend Dr. Abbott has pointed the moral of his +discourse by a reference to a living man, the delicacy of which will be +widely and justly appreciated. I have reason to believe that I am +acquainted with this person, somewhat intimately, though I can by no +means call myself his best friend--far from it. + +If I am right, I can affirm that this poor fellow did not escape from +the "narrow school in which he was brought up" at nineteen, but more +than two years later; and, as he pursued his studies in London, perhaps +he had as many opportunities for "fruitful converse with friends and +equals," to say nothing of superiors, as he would have enjoyed +elsewhere. + +Moreover, whether the naval officers with whom he consorted were +book-learned or not, they were emphatically men, trained to face +realities and to have a wholesome contempt for mere talkers. Any one of +them was worth a wilderness of phrase-crammed undergraduates. Indeed, I +have heard my misguided acquaintance declare that he regards his four +years' training under the hard conditions and the sharp discipline of +his cruise as an education of inestimable value. + +As to being a "keen-witted pessimist out and out," the Reverend Dr. +Abbott's "horrid example" has shown me the following +sentence:--"Pessimism is as little consonant with the facts of sentient +existence as optimism." He says he published it in 1888, in an article +on "Industrial Development," to be seen in the "Nineteenth Century". +But no doubt this is another illusion. No superior person, brought up +"in the Universities," to boot, could possibly have invented a myth so +circumstantial. + +[The end of the correspondence was quite amicable. Dr. Abbott explained +that he had taken his facts from the recently published +"Autobiography," and that the reporters had wonderfully altered what he +really said by large omissions. In a second letter ("Times" October 11) +Huxley says:--] + +I am much obliged to Dr. Abbott for his courteous explanation. I myself +have suffered so many things at the hands of so many reporters--of whom +it may too often be said that their "faith, unfaithful, makes them +falsely true"--that I can fully enter into what his feelings must have +been when he contemplated the picture of his discourse, in which the +lights on "raw midshipmen," "pessimist out and out," "devil take the +hindmost," and "Heine's dragoon," were so high, while the "good things" +he was kind enough to say about me lay in the deep shadow of the +invisible. And I can assure Dr. Abbott that I should not have dreamed +of noticing the report of his interesting lecture, which I read when it +appeared, had it not been made the subject of the leading article which +drew the attention of all the world to it on the following day. + +I was well aware that Dr. Abbott must have founded his remarks on the +brief notice of my life which (without my knowledge) has been thrust +into its present ridiculous position among biographies of eminent +musicians; and most undoubtedly anything I have said there is public +property. But erroneous suppositions imaginatively connected with what +I have said appear to me to stand upon a different footing, especially +when they are interspersed with remarks injurious to my early friends. +Some of the "raw midshipmen and unlearned naval officers" of whom Dr. +Abbott speaks, in terms which he certainly did not find in my +"autobiography," are, I am glad to say, still alive, and are +performing, or have performed, valuable services to their country. I +wonder what Dr. Abbott would think, and perhaps say, if his youthful +University friends were spoken of as "raw curates and unlearned country +squires." + +When David Hume's housemaid was wroth because somebody chalked up "St +David's" on his house, the philosopher is said to have remarked,--" +Never mind, lassie, better men than I have been made saints of before +now." And, perhaps, if I had recollected that "better men than I have +been made texts of before now," a slight flavour of wrath which may be +perceptible would have vanished from my first letter. If Dr. Abbott has +found any phrase of mine too strong, I beg him to set it against "out +and out pessimist" and "Heine's dragoon," and let us cry quits. He is +the last person with whom I should wish to quarrel. + +[Two interesting criticisms of books follow; one "The First Three +Gospels", by the Reverend Estlin Carpenter; the other on "Use and +Disuse", directed against the doctrine of use-inheritance, by Mr. Platt +Ball, who not only sent the book but appealed to him for advice as to +his future course in undertaking a larger work on the evolution of man.] + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, October 11, 1890. + +My dear Mr. Carpenter, + +Accept my best thanks for "The First Three Gospels", which strikes me +as an admirable exposition of the case, full, clear, and calm. Indeed +the latter quality gives it here and there a touch of humour. You say +the most damaging things in a way so gentle that the orthodox reader +must feel like the eels who were skinned by the fair Molly--lost +between pain and admiration. + +I am certainly glad to see that the book has reached a second edition; +it will do yeoman's service to the cause of right reason. + +A friend of mine was in the habit of sending me his proofs, and I +sometimes wrote on them "no objection except to the whole"; and I am +afraid that you will think what I am about to say comes to pretty much +the same thing--at least if I am right in the supposition that a +passage in your first preface (page 7) states your fundamental +position, and that you conceive that when criticism has done its +uttermost there still remains evidence that the personality of Jesus +was the leading cause--the conditio sine qua non--of the evolution of +Christianity from Judaism. + +I long thought so, and having a strong dislike to belittle the heroic +figures of history, I held by the notion as long as I could, but I find +it melting away. + +I cannot see that the moral and religious ideal of early Christianity +is new--on the other hand, it seems to me to be implicitly and +explicitly contained in the early prophetic Judaism and the later +Hellenised Judaism; and though it is quite true that the new vitality +of the old ideal manifested in early Christianity demands "an adequate +historic cause," I would suggest that the word "cause" may mislead if +it is not carefully defined. + +Medical philosophy draws a most useful and necessary distinction +between "exciting" and "predisposing" causes--and nowhere is it more +needful to keep this distinction in mind than in history--and +especially in estimating the action of individuals on the course of +human affairs. Platonic and Stoical philosophy--prophetic +liberalism--the strong democratic socialism of the Jewish political +system--the existence of innumerable sodalities for religious and +social purposes--had thrown the ancient world into a state of unstable +equilibrium. With such predisposing causes at work, the exciting cause +of enormous changes might be relatively insignificant. The powder was +there--a child might throw the match which should blow up the whole +concern. + +I do not want to seem irreverent, still less depreciatory, of noble +men, but it strikes me that in the present case the Nazarenes were the +match and Paul the child. + +An ingrained habit of trying to explain the unknown by the known leads +me to find the key to Nazarenism in Quakerism. It is impossible to read +the early history of the Friends without seeing that George Fox was a +person who exerted extraordinary influence over the men with whom he +came in contact; and it is equally impossible (at least for me) to +discover in his copious remains an original thought. + +Yet what with the corruption of the Stuarts, the Phariseeism of the +Puritans, and the Sadduceeism of the Church, England was in such a +state, that before his death he had gathered about him a vast body of +devoted followers, whose patient endurance of persecution is a marvel. +Moreover, the Quakers have exercised a prodigious influence on later +English life. + +But I have scribbled a great deal too much already. You will see what I +mean. + +To Mr. W. Platt Ball. + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, October 27, 1890. + +Dear Sir, + +I have been through your book, which has greatly interested me, at a +hand-gallop; and I have by no means given it the attention it deserves. +But the day after to-morrow I shall be going into a new house here, and +it may be some time before I settle down to work in it--so that I +prefer to seem hasty, rather than indifferent to your book and still +more to your letter. + +As to the book, in the first place. The only criticism I have to +offer--in the ordinary depreciatory sense of the word--is that pages +128 to 137 seem to me to require reconsideration, partly from a +substantial and partly from a tactical point of view. There is much +that is disputable on the one hand, and not necessary to your argument +on the other. + +Otherwise it seems to me that the case could hardly be better stated. +Here are a few notes and queries that have occurred to me. + +Page 41. Extinction of Tasmanians--rather due to the British colonist, +who was the main agent of their extirpation, I fancy. + +Page 67. Birds' sternums are a great deal more than surfaces of origin +for the pectoral muscles--e.g. movable lid of respiratory bellows. This +not taken into account by Darwin. + +Page 85. "Inferiority of senses of Europeans" is, I believe, a pure +delusion. Professor Marsh told me of feats of American trappers equal +to any savage doings. It is a question of attention. Consider +wool-sorters, tea-tasters, shepherds who know every sheep personally, +etc. etc. + +Page 85. I do not understand about the infant's sole; since all men +become bipeds, all must exert pressure on sole. There is no disuse. + +Page 88. Has not "muscardine" been substituted for "pebrine"? I have +always considered this a very striking case. Here is apparent +inheritance of a diseased state through the mother only, quite +inexplicable till Pasteur discovered the rationale. + +Page 155. Have you considered that State Socialism (for which I have +little enough love) may be a product of Natural Selection? The +societies of Bees and Ants exhibit socialism in excelsis. + +The unlucky substitution of "survival of fittest" for "natural +selection" has done much harm in consequence of the ambiguity of +"fittest"--which many take to mean "best" or "highest"--whereas natural +selection may work towards degradation: vide epizoa. + +You do not refer to the male mamma--which becomes functional once in +many million cases, see the curious records of Gynaecomasty. Here +practical disuse in the male ever since the origin of the mammalia has +not abolished the mamma or destroyed its functional potentiality in +extremely rare cases. + +I absolutely disbelieve in use-inheritance as the evidence stands. +Spencer is bound to it a priori--his psychology goes to pieces without +it. + +Now as to the letter. I am no pessimist--but also no optimist. The +world might be much worse, and it might be much better. Of moral +purpose I see no trace in Nature. That is an article of exclusively +human manufacture--and very much to our credit. + +If you will accept the results of the experience of an old man who has +had a very chequered existence--and has nothing to hope for except a +few years of quiet downhill--there is nothing of permanent value +(putting aside a few human affections), nothing that satisfies quiet +reflection--except the sense of having worked according to one's +capacity and light, to make things clear and get rid of cant and shams +of all sorts. That was the lesson I learned from Carlyle's books when I +was a boy, and it has stuck by me all my life. + +Therefore, my advice to you is go ahead. You may make more of failing +to get money, and of succeeding in getting abuse--until such time in +your life as (if you are teachable) you have ceased to care much about +either. The job you propose to undertake is a big one, and will tax all +your energies and all your patience. + +But, if it were my case, I should take my chance of failing in a worthy +task rather than of succeeding in lower things. + +And if at any time I can be of use to you (even to the answering of +letters) let me know. But in truth I am getting rusty in science--from +disuse. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +P.S.--Yes--Mr. Gladstone has dug up the hatchet. We shall see who gets +the scalps. + +By the way, you have not referred to plants, which are a stronghold for +you. What is the good of use-inheritance, say, in orchids? + +[The interests which had formerly been divided between biology and +other branches of science and philosophy, were diverted from the one +channel only to run stronger in the rest. Stagnation was the one thing +impossible to him; his rest was mental activity without excessive +physical fatigue; and he felt he still had a useful purpose to serve, +as a friend put it, in patrolling his beat with a vigilant eye to the +loose characters of thought. Thus he writes on September 29 to Sir J. +Hooker:--] + +I wish quietude of mind were possible to me. But without something to +do that amuses me and does not involve too much labour, I become quite +unendurable--to myself and everybody else. + +Providence has, I believe, specially devolved on Gladstone, Gore, and +Co. the function of keeping "'ome 'appy" for me. + +I really can't give up tormenting ces droles. + +However, I have been toiling at a tremendously scientific article about +the "Aryan question" absolutely devoid of blasphemy. + +[This article appeared in the November number of the "Nineteenth +Century" ("Collected Essays" 7 271) and treats the question from a +biological point of view, with the warning to readers that it is +essentially a speculation based upon facts, but not assuredly proved. +It starts from the racial characteristics of skull and stature, not +from simply philological considerations, and arrives at a form of the +"Sarmatian" theory of Aryan origins. And for fear lest he should be +supposed to take sides in the question of race and language, or race +and civilisation, he remarks:--] + +The combination of swarthiness with stature above the average and a +long skull, confer upon me the serene impartiality of a mongrel. + +The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, August 12, 1890. + +My dear Evans, + +I have read your address returned herewith with a great deal of +interest, as I happen to have been amusing myself lately with reviewing +the "Aryan" question according to the new lights (or darknesses). + +I have only two or three remarks to offer on the places I have marked A +and B. + +As to A, I would not state the case so strongly against the +probabilities of finding pliocene man. A pliocene Homo skeleton might +analogically be expected to differ no more from that of modern men than +the Oeningen Canis from modern Canes, or pliocene horses from modern +horses. If so, he would most undoubtedly be a man--genus Homo--even if +you made him a distinct species. For my part I should by no means be +astonished to find the genus Homo represented in the Miocene, say the +Neanderthal man with rather smaller brain capacity, longer arms and +more movable great toe, but at most specifically different. + +As to B, I rather think there were people who fought the fallacy of +language being a test of race before Broca--among them thy servant--who +got into considerable hot water on that subject for a lecture on the +forefathers and forerunners of the English people, delivered in 1870. +Taylor says that Cuno was the first to insist upon the proposition that +race is not co-extensive with language in 1871. That is all stuff. The +same thesis had been maintained before I took it up, but I cannot +remember by whom. [Cp. letter to Max Muller of June 15, 1865 volume 1.] + +Won't you refer to the Blackmore Museum? I was very much struck with it +when at Salisbury the other day. + +Hope they gave you a better lunch at Gloucester than we did here. We'll +treat you better next time in our own den. With the wife's kindest +regards. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The remark in a preceding letter about "Gladstone, Gore, and Co." +turned out to be prophetic as well as retrospective. Mr. Gladstone +published this autumn in "Good Words" his "Impregnable Rock of Holy +Scripture," containing an attack upon Huxley's position as taken up in +their previous controversy of 1889. + +The debate now turned upon the story of the Gadarene swine. The +question at issue was not, at first sight, one of vital importance, and +one critic at least remarked that at their age Mr. Gladstone and +Professor Huxley might be better occupied than in fighting over the +Gadarene pigs:--] + +If these too famous swine were the only parties to the suit, I for my +part (writes Huxley, "Collected Essays" 5 414) should fully admit the +justice of the rebuke. But the real issue (he contends) is whether the +men of the nineteenth century are to adopt the demonology of the men of +the first century, as divinely revealed truth, or to reject it as +degrading falsity. + +[A lively encounter followed:--] + +The G.O.M. is not murdered [he writes on November 20], only "fillipped +with a three-man beetle," as the fat knight has it. + +[This refers to the forthcoming article in the December "Nineteenth +Century", "The Keepers of the Herd of Swine," which was followed in +March 1891 by "Mr. Gladstone's Controversial Methods" (see "Collected +Essays" 5 366 sqq.), the rejoinder to Mr. Gladstone's reply in February. + +The scope of this controversy was enlarged by the intervention in the +January "Nineteenth Century" of the Duke of Argyll, to whom he devoted +the concluding paragraphs of his March article. But it was scarcely +well under way when another, accompanied by much greater effusion of +ink and passion, sprang up in the columns of the "Times". His share in +it, published in 1891 as a pamphlet under the title of "Social Diseases +and Worse Remedies," is to be found in "Collected Essays" 9 237.] + +I have a new row on hand in re Salvation Army! [he writes on December +2]. It's all Mrs. --'s fault; she offered the money. + +[In fact, a lady who was preparing to subscribe 1000 pounds to +"General" Booth's "Darkest England" scheme, begged Huxley first to give +her his opinion of the scheme and the likelihood of its being properly +carried out. A careful examination of "Darkest England" and other +authorities on the subject, convinced him that it was most unwise to +create an organisation whose absolute obedience to an irresponsible +leader might some day become a serious danger to the State; that the +reforms proposed were already being undertaken by other bodies, which +would be crippled if this scheme were floated; and that the financial +arrangements of the Army were not such as provide guarantees for the +proper administration of the funds subscribed:--] + +And if the thing goes on much longer, if Booth establishes his Bank, +you will have a crash some of these fine days, comparable only to Law's +Mississippi business, but unfortunately ruining only the poor. + +[On the same day he writes to his eldest son:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 8, 1890. + +Attacking the Salvation Army may look like the advance of a forlorn +hope, but this old dog has never yet let go after fixing his teeth into +anything or anybody, and he is not going to begin now. And it is only a +question of holding on. Look at Plumptre's letter exposing the Bank +swindle. + +The "Times", too, is behaving like a brick. This world is not a very +lovely place, but down at the bottom, as old Carlyle preached, veracity +does really lie, and will show itself if people won't be impatient. + +[No sooner had he begun to express these opinions in the columns of the +"Times" than additional information of all kinds poured in upon him, +especially from within the Army, much of it private for fear of injury +to the writers if it were discovered that they had written to expose +abuses; indeed in one case the writer had thought better of even +appending his signature to his letter, and had cut off his name from +the foot of it, alleging that correspondence was not inviolable. So far +were these persons from feeling hostility to the organisation to which +they belonged, that one at least hailed the Professor as the +divinely-appointed redeemer of the Army, whose criticism was to bring +it back to its pristine purity. + +To his elder son:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 8, 1891. + +Dear Lens, + +It is very jolly to think of J. and you paying us a visit. It is +proper, also, the eldest son should hansel the house. + +Is the Mr. Sidgwick who took up the cudgels for me so gallantly in the +"St. James'" one of your Sidgwicks? If so, I wish you would thank him +on my account. (The letter was capital.) [Mr. William C. Sidgwick had +written (January 4) an indignant letter to protest against the heading +of an article in the "Speaker", Professor Huxley as Titus Oates." "To +this monster of iniquity the "Speaker" compares an honourable English +gentleman, because he has ventured to dissuade his countrymen from +giving money to Mr. William Booth...Mr. Huxley's views on theology may +be wrong, but nobody doubts that he honestly holds them; they do not +bring Mr. Huxley wealth and honours, nor do they cause the murder of +the innocent. To insinuate a resemblance which you dare not state +openly is an outrage on common decency...] Generally people like me to +pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them, but don't care to take any +share in the burning of the fingers. + +But the Boothites are hard hit, and may be allowed to cry out. + +I begin to think that they must be right in saying that the Devil is at +work to destroy them. No other theory sufficiently accounts for the way +they play into my hands. Poor Clibborn-Booth has a long--columns +long--letter in the "Times" to-day, in which, all unbeknownst to +himself, he proves my case. + +I do believe it is a veritable case of the herd of swine, and I shall +have to admit the probability of that miracle. + +Love to J. and Co. from us all. + +Ever your affectionate Pater. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 11, 1891. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +I am very much obliged to you for the number of the "St. James's +Gazette", which I had not seen. The leading article expresses exactly +the same conclusions as those at which I had myself arrived from the +study of the deed of 1878. But of course I was not going to entangle +myself in a legal discussion. However, I have reason to know that the +question will be dealt with by a highly qualified legal expert before +long. The more I see of the operations of headquarters the worse they +look. I get some of my most valuable information and heartiest +encouragement from officers of the Salvation Army; and I knew, in this +way, of Smith's resignation a couple of days before it was announced! +But the poor fellows are so afraid of spies and consequent persecution, +that some implore me not to notice their letters, and all pledge me to +secrecy. So that I am Vice-Fontanelle with my hand full of truth, while +I can only open my little finger. + +It is a case of one down and t'other come on, just now. "--" will get +his deserts in due time. But, oh dear, what a waste of time for a man +who has not much to look to. No; "waste" is the wrong word; it's +useful, but I wish that somebody else would do it and leave me to my +books. + +My wife desires her kind regards. I am happy to say she is now +remarkably well. If you are this way, pray look in at our Hermitage. + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 30, 1891. + +My dear Hooker, + +I trust I have done with Booth and Co. at last. What an ass a man is to +try to prevent his fellow-creatures from being humbugged! Surely I am +old enough to know better. I have not been so well abused for an age. +It's quite like old times. + +And now I have to settle accounts with the Duke and the G.O.M. I wonder +when the wicked will let me be at peace. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Other letters touch upon the politics of the hour, especially upon the +sudden and dramatic fall of Parnell. He could not but admire the power +and determination of the man, and his political methods, an admiration +rashly interpreted by some journalist as admiration of the objects to +which these political methods were applied. (See Volume 2.)] + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, November 26, 1890. + +My dear Lecky, + +Very many thanks for your two volumes, which I rejoice to have, +especially as a present from you. I was only waiting until we were +settled in our new house--as I hope we shall be this time next week--to +add them to the set which already adorn my shelves, and I promise +myself soon to enjoy the reading of them. + +The Unionist cause is looking up. What a strange thing it is that the +Irish malcontents are always sold, one way or the other, by their +leaders. + +I wonder if the G.O.M. ever swears! Pity if he can't have that relief +just now. + +With our united kind regards to Mrs. Lecky and yourself. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, November 29, 1890. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have filled up and sent your and my copies of entry for Athenaeum. + +Carpenter has written the best popular statement I know of, of the +results of criticism, in a little book called "The First Three +Gospels", which is well worth reading. [See above.] + +I have promised to go to the Royal Society dinner and propose Stokes' +health on Monday, but if the weather holds out as Arctic as it is now, +I shall not dare to venture. The driving east wind, blowing the snow +before it here, has been awful; for ten years they have had nothing +like it. I am glad to say that my little house turns out to be warm. We +go in next Wednesday, and I fear I cannot be in town on Thursday even +if the weather permits. + +I have had pleurisy that was dangerous and not painful, then pleurisy +that was painful and not dangerous; there is only one further +combination, and I don't want that. + +Politics now are immensely interesting. There must be a depth of +blackguardism in me, for I cannot help admiring Parnell. I prophesy +that it is Gladstone who will retire for a while, and then come back to +Parnell's heel like a whipped hound. His letter was carefully full of +loopholes. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 2, 1890. + +My dear Hooker, + +The question of questions now is whether the Unionists will have the +sense to carry a measure settling the land question at once. If they do +that, I do not believe it will be in the power of man to stir them +further. And my belief is that Parnell will be quite content with that +solution. He does not want to be made a nonentity by Davitt or the +Irish Americans. + +But what ingrained liars they all are! That is the bottom of all Irish +trouble. Fancy Healy and Sexton going to Dublin to swear eternal +fidelity to their leader, and now openly declaring that they only did +so because they believed he would resign. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, January 10, 1891. + +My dear Foster, + +I am trying to bring the Booth business to an end so far as I am +concerned, but it's like getting a wolf by the ears; you can't let him +go exactly when you like. + +But the result is quite worth the trouble. Booth, Stead, Tillett, +Manning and Co. have their little game spoilt for the present. + +You cannot imagine the quantity of letters I get from the Salvation +Army subordinates, thanking me and telling me all sorts of stories in +strict confidence. The poor devils are frightened out of their lives by +headquarter spies. Some beg me not to reply, as their letters are +opened. + +I knew that saints were not bad hands at lying before; but these Booth +people beat Banagher. + +Then there is -- awaits skinning, and I believe the G.O.M. is to be +upon me! Oh for a quiet life. + +Ever yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[But by February 17 the Booth business was over, the final rejoinder to +Mr. Gladstone sent to press; and he writes to Sir J. Hooker:--] + +Please the pigs, I have now done with them--wiped my month, and am +going to be good--till next time. + +But in truth I am as sick of controversy as a confectioner's boy of +tarts. + +I rather think I shall set up as a political prophet. Gladstone and all +the rest are coming to heel to their master. + +Years ago one of the present leaders of the anti-Parnellites said to +me: "Gladstone is always in the hands of somebody stronger than +himself; formerly it was Bright, now it is Parnell." + + +CHAPTER 3.8. + +1890-1891. + +[The new house at Eastbourne has been several times referred to. As +usually happens, the move was considerably delayed by the slowness of +the workmen; it did not actually take place till the beginning of +December. + +He writes to his daughter, Mrs. Roller, who also had just moved into a +new house:--] + +You have all my sympathies on the buy, buy question. I never knew +before that when you go into a new house money runs out at the heels of +your boots. On former occasions, I have been too busy to observe the +fact. But I am convinced now that it is a law of nature. + +[The origin of the name given to the house appears from the following +letter:--] + +Grand Hotel, Eastbourne, October 15, 1890. + +My dear Foster, + +Best thanks for the third part of the "Physiology," which I found when +I ran up to town for a day or two last week. What a grind that book +must be. + +How's a' wi' you? Let me have a line. + +We ought to have been in our house a month ago, but fitters, paperers, +and polishers are like bugs or cockroaches, you may easily get 'em in, +but getting 'em out is the deuce. However, I hope to clear them out by +the end of this week, and get in by the end of next week. + +One is obliged to have names for houses here. Mine will be "Hodeslea," +which is as near as I can go to "Hodesleia," the poetical original +shape of my very ugly name. + +There was a noble scion of the house of Huxley of Huxley who, having +burgled and done other wrong things (temp. Henry IV.), asked for +benefit of clergy. I expect they gave it him, not in the way he wanted, +but in the way they would like to "benefit" a later member of the +family. + +[Rough sketch of one priest hauling the rope taut over the gallows, +while another holds a crucifix before the suspended criminal.] + +Between this gentleman and my grandfather there is unfortunately a +complete blank, but I have none the less faith in him as my ancestor. + +My wife, I am sorry to say, is in town--superintending packing up--no +stopping her. I have been very uneasy about her at times, and shall be +glad when we are quietly settled down. With kindest regards to Mrs. +Foster. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[His own principal task was in getting his library ready for the move.] + +Most of my time [he writes on November 16] for the last fortnight has +been spent in arranging books and tearing up papers till my back aches +and my fingers are sore. + +[However, he did not take all his books with him. There was a quantity +of biological works of all sorts which had accumulated in his library +and which he was not likely to use again; these he offered as a parting +gift to the Royal College of Science. On December 8, the Registrar +conveys to him the thanks of the Council for "the valuable library of +biological works," and further informs him that it was resolved:-- + +That the library shall be kept in the room formerly occupied by the +Dean, which shall be called "The Huxley Laboratory for Biological +Research," and be devoted to the prosecution of original researches in +Biological Science, with which the name of Professor Huxley is +inseparably associated. + +Huxley replied as follows:--] + +Dear Registrar, + +I beg you convey my hearty thanks to the Council for the great kindness +of the minute and resolution which you have sent me. My mind has never +been greatly set on posthumous fame; but there is no way of keeping +memory green which I should like so well as that which they have +adopted towards me. + +It has been my fate to receive a good deal more vilipending than (I +hope) I deserve. If my colleagues, with whom I have worked so long, put +too high a value upon my services, perhaps the result may be not far +off justice. + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +In addition to the directly controversial articles in the early part of +the year, two other articles on controversial subjects belong to 1891. +"Hasisadra's Adventure," published in the "Nineteenth Century" for +June, completed his long-contemplated examination of the Flood myth. In +this he first discussed the Babylonian form of the legend recorded upon +the clay tablets of Assurbanipal--a simpler and less exaggerated form +as befits an earlier version, and in its physical details keeping much +nearer to the bounds of probability. + +The greater part of the article, however, is devoted to a wider +question--How far does geological and geographical evidence bear +witness to the consequences which must have ensued from a universal +flood, or even from one limited to the countries of Mesopotamia? And he +comes to the conclusion that these very countries have been singularly +free from any great changes of the kind for long geological periods. + +The sarcastic references in this article to those singular reasoners +who take the possibility of an occurrence to be the same as scientific +testimony to the fact of its occurrence, lead up, more or less, to the +subject of an essay, "Possibilities and Impossibilities," which +appeared in the "Agnostic Annual" for 1892, actually published in +October 1891, and to be found in "Collected Essays", 5 192. + +This was a restatement of the fundamental principles of the agnostic +position, arising out of the controversies of the last two years upon +the demonology of the New Testament. The miraculous is not to be denied +as impossible; as Hume said, "Whatever is intelligible and can be +distinctly conceived implies no contradiction, and can never be proved +false by any demonstrative argument or abstract reasoning a priori," +and these combinations of phenomena are perfectly conceivable. +Moreover, in the progress of knowledge, the miracles of to-day may be +the science of to-morrow. Improbable they are, certainly, by all +experience, and therefore they require specially strong evidence. But +this is precisely what they lack; the evidence for them, when examined, +turns out to be of doubtful value.] + +I am anxious [he says] to bring about a clear understanding of the +difference between "impossibilities" and "improbabilities," because +mistakes on this point lay us open to the attacks of ecclesiastical +apologists of the type of the late Cardinal Newman. + +When it is rightly stated, the Agnostic view of "miracles" is, in my +judgment, unassailable. We are NOT justified in the a priori assertion +that the order of nature, as experience has revealed it to us, cannot +change. In arguing about the miraculous, the assumption is +illegitimate, because it involves the whole point in dispute. +Furthermore, it is an assumption which takes us beyond the range of our +faculties. Obviously, no amount of past experience can warrant us in +anything more than a correspondingly strong expectation for the present +and future. We find, practically, that expectations, based upon careful +observations of past events, are, as a rule, trustworthy. We should be +foolish indeed not to follow the only guide we have through life. But, +for all that, our highest and surest generalisations remain on the +level of justifiable expectations; that is, very high probabilities. +For my part, I am unable to conceive of an intelligence shaped on the +model of that of men, however superior it might be, which could be any +better off than our own in this respect; that is, which could possess +logically justifiable grounds for certainty about the constancy of the +order of things, and therefore be in a position to declare that such +and such events are impossible. Some of the old mythologies recognised +this clearly enough. Beyond and above Zeus and Odin, there lay the +unknown and inscrutable Fate which, one day or other, would crumple up +them and the world they ruled to give place to a new order of things. + +I sincerely hope that I shall not be accused of Pyrrhonism, or of any +desire to weaken the foundations of rational certainty. I have merely +desired to point out that rational certainty is one thing, and talk +about "impossibilities," or "violation of natural laws," another. +Rational certainty rests upon two grounds; the one that the evidence in +favour of a given statement is as good as it can be; the other, that +such evidence is plainly insufficient. In the former case, the +statement is to be taken as true, in the latter as untrue; until +something arises to modify the verdict, which, however properly +reached, may always be more or less wrong, the best information being +never complete, and the best reasoning being liable to fallacy. + +To quarrel with the uncertainty that besets us in intellectual affairs +would be about as reasonable as to object to live one's life, with due +thought for the morrow, because no man can be sure he will be alive an +hour hence. Such are the conditions imposed upon us by nature, and we +have to make the best of them. And I think that the greatest mistake +those of us who are interested in the progress of free thought can make +is to overlook these limitations, and to deck ourselves with the +dogmatic feathers which are the traditional adornment of our opponents. +Let us be content with rational certainty, leaving irrational +certainties to those who like to muddle their minds with them. + +[As for the difficulty of believing miracles in themselves, he gives in +this paper several examples of a favourite saying of his, that Science +offers us much greater marvels than the miracles of theology; only the +evidence for them is very different. + +The following letter was written in acknowledgment of a paper by the +Reverend E. McClure, which endeavoured to place the belief in an +individual permanence upon the grounds that we know of no leakage +anywhere in nature; that matter is not a source, but a transmitter of +energy; and that the brain, so far from originating thought, is a mere +machine responsive to something external to itself, a revealer of +something which it does not produce, like a musical instrument. This +"something" is the universal of thought, which is identified with the +general logos of the fourth gospel. Moral perfection consists in +assimilation to this; sin is the falling short of perfect revealing of +the eternal logos. + +Huxley's reply interested his correspondent not only for the brief +opinion on the philosophic question, but for the personal touch in the +explanation of the motives which had guided his life-work, and his +"kind feeling towards such of the clergy as endeavoured to seek +honestly for a natural basis to their faith." + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 17, 1891. + +Dear Mr. McClure, + +I am very much obliged for your letter, which belongs to a different +category from most of those which I receive from your side of the hedge +that, unfortunately, separates thinking men. + +So far as I know myself, after making due deduction for the ambition of +youth and a fiery temper, which ought to (but unfortunately does not) +get cooler with age, my sole motive is to get at the truth in all +things. + +I do not care one straw about fame, present or posthumous, and I loathe +notoriety, but I do care to have that desire manifest and recognised. + +Your paper deals with a problem which has profoundly interested me for +years, but which I take to be insoluble. It would need a book for full +discussion. But I offer a remark only on two points. + +The doctrine of the conservation of energy tells neither one way nor +the other. Energy is the cause of movement of body, i.e. things having +mass. States of consciousness have no mass, even if they can be +conceded to be movable. Therefore even if they are caused by molecular +movements, they would not in any way affect the store of energy. + +Physical causation need not be the only kind of causation, and when +Cabanis said that thought was a function of the brain, in the same way +as bile secretion is a FUNCTION of the liver, he blundered +philosophically. Bile is a product of the transformation of material +energy. But in the mathematical sense of the word "function," thought +may be a function of the brain. That is to say, it may arise only when +certain physical particles take on a certain order. + +By way of a coarse analogy, consider a parallel-sided piece of glass +through which light passes. It forms no picture. Shape it so as to be +bi-convex, and a picture appears in its focus. + +Is not the formation of the picture a "function" of the piece of glass +thus shaped? + +So, from your own point of view, suppose a mind-stuff--logos---a +noumenal cosmic light such as is shadowed in the fourth gospel. The +brain of a dog will convert it into one set of phenomenal pictures, and +the brain of a man into another. But in both cases the result is the +consequence of the way in which the respective brains perform their +"functions." + +Yet one point. + +The actions we call sinful are as much the consequence of the order of +nature as those we call virtuous. They are part and parcel of the +struggle for existence through which all living things have passed, and +they have become sins because man alone seeks a higher life in +voluntary association. + +Therefore the instrument has never been marred; on the contrary, we are +trying to get music out of harps, sacbuts, and psalteries, which never +were in tune and seemingly never will be. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Few years passed without some utterance from Huxley on the subject of +education, especially scientific education. This year we have a letter +to Professor Ray Lankester touching the science teaching at Oxford.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 28, 1891. + +Dear Lankester, + +I met Foster at the Athenaeum when I was in town last week, and we had +some talk about your "very gentle" stirring of the Oxford pudding. I +asked him to let you know when occasion offered, that (as I had already +said to Burdon Sanderson) I drew a clear line apud biology between the +medical student and the science student. + +With respect to the former, I consider it ought to be kept within +strict limits, and made simply a Vorschule to human anatomy and +physiology. + +On the other hand, the man who is going out in natural science ought to +have a much larger dose, especially in the direction of morphology. +However, from what I understood from Foster, there seems a doubt about +the "going out" in "Natural Science", so I had better confine myself to +the medicos. Their burden is already so heavy that I do not want to see +it increased by a needless weight even of elementary biology. + +Very many thanks for the "Zoological articles" just arrived. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Don't write to the "Times" about anything; look at the trouble that +comes upon a harmless man for two months, in consequence. + +[The following letter, which I quote from the "Yorkshire Herald" of +April 11, 1891, was written in answer to some inquiries from Mr. J. +Harrison, who read a paper on Technical Education as applied to +Agriculture, before the Easingwold Agricultural Club.] + +I am afraid that my opinion upon the subject of your inquiry is worth +very little--my ignorance of practical agriculture being profound. +However, there are some general principles which apply to all technical +training; the first of these, I think, is that practice is to be +learned only by practice. The farmer must be made by and through farm +work. I believe I might be able to give you a fair account of a bean +plant and of the manner and condition of its growth, but if I were to +try to raise a crop of beans, your club would probably laugh consumedly +at the result. Nevertheless, I believe that you practical people would +be all the better for the scientific knowledge which does not enable me +to grow beans. It would keep you from attempting hopeless experiments, +and would enable you to take advantage of the innumerable hints which +Dame Nature gives to people who live in direct contact with things. And +this leads me to the second general principle which I think applies to +all technical teaching for school-boys and school-girls, and that is, +that they should be led from the observation of the commonest facts to +general scientific truths. If I were called upon to frame a course of +elementary instruction preparatory to agriculture, I am not sure that I +should attempt chemistry, or botany, or physiology or geology, as such. +It is a method fraught with the danger of spending too much time and +attention on abstraction and theories, on words and notions instead of +things. The history of a bean, of a grain of wheat, of a turnip, of a +sheep, of a pig, or of a cow properly treated--with the introduction of +the elements of chemistry, physiology, and so on as they come in--would +give all the elementary science which is needed for the comprehension +of the processes of agriculture in a form easily assimilated by the +youthful mind, which loathes everything in the shape of long words and +abstract notions, and small blame to it. I am afraid I shall not have +helped you very much, but I believe that my suggestions, rough as they +are, are in the right direction. + +[The remaining letters of the year are of miscellaneous interest. They +show him happily established in his retreat at Eastbourne in very fair +health, on his guard against any further repetition of his "jubilee +honour" in the shape of his old enemy pleurisy; unable to escape the +more insidious attacks of influenza, but well enough on the whole to be +in constant good spirits.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 13, 1891. + +My dear Skelton, + +Many thanks to you for reminding me that there are such things as +"Summer Isles" in the universe. The memory of them has been pretty well +blotted out here for the last seven weeks. You see some people can +retire to "Hermitages" as well as other people; and though even Argyll +cum Gladstone powers of self-deception could not persuade me that the +view from my window is as good as that from yours, yet I do see a fine +wavy chalk down with "cwms" and soft turfy ridges, over which an old +fellow can stride as far as his legs are good to carry him. + +The fact is, that I discovered that staying in London any longer meant +for me a very short life, and by no means a merry one. So I got my +son-in-law to build me a cottage here, where my wife and I may go +down-hill quietly together, and "make our sowls" as the Irish say, +solaced by an occasional visit from children and grandchildren. + +The deuce of it is, that however much the weary want to be at rest the +wicked won't cease from troubling. Hence the occasional skirmishes and +alarms which may lead my friends to misdoubt my absolute detachment +from sublunary affairs. Perhaps peace dwells only among the fork-tailed +Petrels! + +I trust Mrs. Skelton and you are flourishing, and that trouble will +keep far from the hospitable doors of Braid through the New Year. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[No sooner had he settled down in his new country home, than a strange +piece of good fortune, such as happens more often in a story-book than +in real life, enabled him at one stroke to double his little estate, to +keep off the unwelcome approach of the speculative builder, and to give +himself scope for the newly-discovered delights of the garden. The sale +of the house in Marlborough Place covered the greater part of the cost +of Hodeslea; but almost on the very day on which the sale was +concluded, he became the possessor of another house at Worthing by the +death of Mr. Anthony Rich, the well-known antiquarian. An old man, +almost alone in the world, his admiration for the great work done +recently in natural science had long since led him to devise his +property to Darwin and Huxley, to the one his private fortune, to the +other his house and its contents, notably a very interesting library. + +As a matter of feeling, Huxley was greatly disinclined to part with +this house, Chapel Croft, as soon as it had come into his hands. A year +earlier, he might have made it his home; but now he had settled down at +Eastbourne, and Chapel Croft, as it stood, was unlikely to find a +tenant. Accordingly he sold it early in July, and with the proceeds +bought the piece of land adjoining his house. Thus he writes to Sir J. +Hooker:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 17, 1891. + +My dear Hooker, + +My estate is somewhat of a white elephant. There is about a couple of +acres of ground well situated and half of it in the shape of a very +pretty lawn and shrubbery, but unluckily, in building the house, dear +old Rich thought of his own convenience and not mine (very wrong of +him!), and I cannot conceive anybody but an old bachelor or old maid +living in it. I do not believe anybody would take it as it stands. No +doubt the site is valuable, and it would be well worth while to anybody +with plenty of cash to spare to build on to the house and make it +useful. But I neither have the cash, nor do I want the bother. However, +Waller is going to look at the place for me and see what can be done. +It seems hardly decent to sell it at once; and moreover the value is +likely to increase. I suppose at present it is worth 2000 pounds, but +that is only a guess. + +Apropos of naval portrait gallery, can you tell me if there is a +portrait of old John Richardson anywhere extant? I always look upon him +as the founder of my fortunes, and I want to hang him up (just over +your head) on my chimney breast. Voici! [sketch showing the position of +the pictures above the fireplace]:-- + +By your fruits ye shall judge them! My cold was influenza, I have been +in the most preposterously weak state ever since; and at last my wife +lost patience and called in the doctor, who is screwing me up with nux +vomica. + +Sound wind and limb otherwise. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And again on July 3:--] + +I have just been offered 2800 pounds for Anthony Rich's place and have +accepted it. It is probably worth 3000 pounds, but if I were to have it +on my hands and sell by auction I should get no more out of the +transaction. + +I am greatly inclined to put some of the money into a piece of land--a +Naboth's vineyard--in front of my house and turn horticulturist. I find +nailing up creepers a delightful occupation. + +[In the same letter he describes two meetings with old friends:--] + +Last Friday I ran down to Hindhead to see Tyndall. He was very much +better than I hoped to find him, after such a long and serious illness, +quite bright and "Tyndalloid" and not aged as I feared he would +be...The local doctor happened to be there during my visit and spoke +very confidently of his speedy recovery. The leg is all right again, +and he even talks of Switzerland, but I begged Mrs. Tyndall to persuade +him to keep quiet and within reach of home and skilled medical +attendance. + +Saturday to Monday we were at Down, after six or seven years' +interruption of our wonted visits. It was very pleasant if rather sad. +Mrs. Darwin is wonderfully well--naturally aged--but quite bright and +cheerful as usual. Old Parslow turned up on Sunday, just eighty, but +still fairly hale. Fuimus fuimus! + +[(Parslow was the old butler who had been in Mr. Darwin's service for +many years.) + +To his daughter, Mrs. Roller.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 5, 1891. + +You dear people must have entered into a conspiracy, as I had letters +from all yesterday. I have never been so set up before, and begin to +think that fathers (like port) must improve in quality with age. (No +irreverent jokes about their getting crusty, Miss.) + +Julian and Joyce taken together may perhaps give a faint idea of my +perfections as a child. I have not only a distinct recollection of +being noticed on the score of my good looks, but my mother used to +remind me painfully of them in my later years, looking at me mournfully +and saying, "And you were such a pretty boy!" + +[Much as he would have liked to visit the Maloja again this year, the +state of his wife's health forbade such a long journey. He writes just +after his attack of influenza to Sir M. Foster, who had been suffering +in the same way:--] + +Hodeslea, May 12, 1891. + +My dear Foster, + +I was very glad to hear from you. Pray don't get attempting to do +anything before you are +set up again. + +I am in a ridiculous state of weakness, and bless my stars that I have +nothing to do. I find it troublesome to do even that. + +I wish ballooning had advanced so far as to take people to Maloja, for +I do not think my wife ought to undertake such a journey, and yet I +believe the high air would do us both more good than anything else.... + +The University of London scheme appears to be coming to grief, as I +never doubted it would. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[So instead of going abroad, he stayed in Eastbourne till the end of +August, receiving a short visit from his old friend Jowett, who, though +sadly enfeebled by age, still persisted in travelling by himself, and a +longer visit from his elder son and his family. But from September 11 +to the 26th he and his wife made a trip through the west country, +starting from Salisbury, which had so delighted him the year before, +and proceeding by way of the Wye valley, which they had not visited +since their honeymoon, to Llangollen. The first stage on the return +journey was Chester, whence they made pious pilgrimage to the cradle of +his name, Old Huxley Hall, some nine miles from Chester. Incorporated +with a modern farm-house, and forming the present kitchen, are some +solid stone walls, part of the old manor-house, now no longer belonging +to any one of the name. From here they went to Coventry, where he had +lived as a boy, and found the house which his father had occupied still +standing. + +A letter to an old pupil contains reflections upon the years of work to +which he had devoted so much of his energies.] + +To Professor T. Jeffery Parker, Otago. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, August 11, 1891. + +My dear Parker, + +It is a long time since your letter reached me, but I was so unwise as +to put off answering it until the book arrived and I had read it. The +book did not reach me for a long time, and what with one thing and +another I have but just finished it. I assure you I am very proud of +having my name connected with such a thorough piece of work, no less +than touched by the kindness of the dedication. + +Looking back from the aged point of view, the life which cost so much +wear and tear in the living seems to have effected very little, and it +is cheering to be reminded that one has been of some use. + +Some years of continued ill-health, involving constant travelling about +in search of better conditions than London affords, and long periods of +prostration, have driven me quite out of touch with science. And indeed +except for a certain toughness of constitution I should have been +driven out of touch with terrestrial things altogether. + +It is almost indecent in a man at my time of life who has had two +attacks of pleurisy, followed by a dilated heart, to be not only above +ground but fairly vigorous again. However, I am obliged to mind my P's +and Q's; avoid everything like hard work, and live in good air. + +The last condition we have achieved by setting up a house close to the +downs here; and I begin to think with Candide that "cultivons notre +jardin" comprises the whole duty of man. + +I was just out of the way of hearing anything about the University +College chair; and indeed, beyond attending the Council of the school +when necessary, and meetings of Trustees of the British Museum, I +rarely go to London. + +I have had my innings, and it is now for the younger generation to have +theirs. + +With best wishes, ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[As for being no longer in touch with the world of science, he says the +same thing in a note to Sir M. Foster, forwarding an inquiry after a +scientific teacher (August 1).] + +Please read the enclosed, and if you know of anybody suitable please +send his name to Mr. Thomas. + +I have told him that I am out of the way of knowing, and that you are +physiologically omniscient, so don't belie the character! + +[This year a number of Huxley's essays were translated into French. +"Nature" for July 23, 1891 (volume 44 page 272),--notes the publication +of "Les Sciences Naturelles et l'Education," with a short preface by +himself, dwelling upon the astonishing advance which had been made in +the recognition of science as an instrument of education, but warning +the younger generation that the battle is only half won, and bidding +them beware of relaxing their efforts before the place of science is +entirely assured. In the issue for December 31 ("Nature" 46 397), is a +notice of "La Place de l'Homme dans la Nature," a re-issue of a +translation of more than twenty years before, together with three +ethnological essays, newly translated by M. H. de Varigny, to whom the +following letters are addressed.] + +To H. De Varigny. + +May 17, 1891. + +I am writing to my publishers to send you "Lay Sermons", "Critiques", +"Science and Culture", and "American Addresses", pray accept them in +expression of my thanks for the pains you are taking about the +translation. "Man's Place in Nature" has been out of print for years, +so I cannot supply it. + +I am quite conscious that the condensed and idiomatic English into +which I always try to put my thoughts must present many difficulties to +a translator. But a friend of mine who is a much better French scholar +than I am, and who looked over two or three of the essays, told me he +thought you had been remarkably successful. + +The fact is that I have a great love and respect for my native tongue, +and take great pains to use it properly. Sometimes I write essays +half-a-dozen times before I can get them into the proper shape; and I +believe I become more fastidious as I grow older. + +November 25, 1891. + +I am very glad you have found your task pleasant, for I am afraid it +must have cost you a good deal of trouble to put my ideas into the +excellent French dress with which you have provided them. It fits so +well that I feel almost as if I might be a candidate for a seat among +the immortal forty! + +As to the new volume, you shall have the refusal of it if you care to +have it. But I have my doubts about its acceptability to a French +public which I imagine knows little about Bibliolatry and the ways of +Protestant clericalism, and cares less. + +These essays represent a controversy which has been going on for five +or six years about Genesis, the deluge, the miracle of the herd of +swine, and the miraculous generally, between Gladstone, the +ecclesiastical principal of King's College, various bishops, the writer +of "Lux Mundi", that spoilt Scotch minister the Duke of Argyll, and +myself. + +My object has been to stir up my countrymen to think about these +things; and the only use of controversy is that it appeals to their +love of fighting, and secures their attention. + +I shall be very glad to have your book on "Experimental Evolution". I +insisted on the necessity of obtaining experimental proof of the +possibility of obtaining virtually infertile breeds from a common stock +in 1860 (in one of the essays you have translated). Mr. Tegetmeier made +a number of experiments with pigeons some years ago, but could obtain +not the least approximation to infertility. + +From the first, I told Darwin this was the weak point of his case from +the point of view of scientific logic. But, in this matter, we are just +where we were thirty years ago, and I am very glad you are going to +call attention to the subject. + +Sending a copy of the translation soon after to Sir J. Hooker, he +writes:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 11, 1892. + +My dear Hooker, + +We have been in the middle of snow for the last four days. I shall not +venture to London, and if you deserve the family title of the +"judicious," I don't think you will either. + +I send you by this post a volume of the French translation of a +collection of my essays about Darwinism and Evolution, 1860-76, for +which I have written a brief preface. I was really proud of myself when +I discovered on re-reading them that I had nothing to alter. + +What times those days were! Fuimus. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The same subject of experimental evolution reappears in a letter to +Professor Romanes of April 29. A project was on foot for founding an +institution in which experiments bearing upon the Darwinian theory +could be carried out. After congratulating Professor Romanes upon his +recent election to the Athenaeum Club, he proceeds:--] + +In a review of Darwin's "Origin" published in the "Westminster" for +1860 ("Lay Sermons" pages 323-24), you will see that I insisted on the +logical incompleteness of the theory so long as it was not backed by +experimental proof that the cause assumed was competent to produce all +the effects required. (See also "Lectures to Working Men" 1863 pages +146 and 147.) In fact, Darwin used to reproach me sometimes for my +pertinacious insistence on the need of experimental verification. + +But I hope you are going to choose some other title than "Institut +transformiste," which implies that the Institute is pledged to a +foregone conclusion, that it is a workshop devoted to the production of +a particular kind of article. Moreover, I should say that as a matter +of prudence, you had better keep clear of the word "experimental." +Would not "Biological Observatory" serve the turn? Of course it does +not exclude experiment any more than "Astronomical Observatory" +excludes spectrum analysis. + +Please think over this. My objection to "Transformist" is very strong. + +[In August his youngest daughter wrote to him to find out the nature of +various "objects of the seashore" which she had found on the beach in +South Wales. His answers make one wish that there had been more +questions.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, August 14, 1891. + +Dearest Babs, + +1. "Ornary" or not "ornary" B is merely A turned upside down and viewed +with the imperfect appreciation of the mere artistic eye! + +2. Your little yellow things are, I expect, egg-cases of dog whelks. +You will find a lot of small eggs inside them, one or two of which grow +faster than the rest, and eat up their weaker brothers and sisters. + +The dog whelk is common on the shores. If you look for something like +this [sketch of a terrier coming out of a whelk shell], you will be +sure to recognise it. + +3. Starfish are NOT born in their proper shape and don't come from your +whitish yellow lumps. The thing that comes out of a starfish egg is +something like this [sketch], and swims about by its cilia. The +starfish proper is formed inside, and it is carried on its back +this-uns. + +Finally starfish drops off carrying with it t'other one's stomach, so +that the subsequent proceedings interest t'other one no more. + +4. The ropy sand tubes that make a sort of banks and reefs are houses +of worms, that they build up out of sand, shells, and slime. If you +knock a lot to pieces you will find worms inside. + +5. Now, how do I know what the rooks eat? But there are a lot of +unconsidered trifles about and if you get a good telescope and watch, +you will have a glimpse as they hover between sand and rooks' beaks. + +It has been blowing more or less of a gale here from the west for +weeks--usually cold, often foggy--so that it seems as if summer were +going to be late, probably about November. + +But we thrive fairly well. L. and J. and their chicks are here and seem +to stand the inclemency of the weather pretty fairly. The children are +very entertaining. + +M-- has been a little complaining, but is as active as usual. + +My love to Joyce, and tell her I am glad to hear she has not forgotten +her astronomy. + +In answer to your inquiry, Leonard says that Trevenen has twenty-five +teeth. I have a sort of notion this can be hardly accurate, but never +having been a mother can't presume to say. + +Our best love to you all. + +Ever your loving Pater. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, August 26, 1891. + +Dearest Babs, + +'Pears to me your friend is a squid or pen-and-ink fish, Loligo among +the learned. Probably Loligo media which I have taken in that region. +They have ten tentacles with suckers round their heads, two much longer +than the others. They are close to cuttlefish, but have a thin horny +shell inside them instead of the "cuttle-bone." If you can get one by +itself in a tub of water, it is pretty to see how they blush all over +and go pale again, owing to little colour-bags in the skin, which +expand and contract. Doubtless they took you for a heron, under the +circumstances [sketch of a wader]. + +With slight intervals it has been blowing a gale from the west here for +some months, the memory of man indeed goeth not back to the calm. I +have not been really warm more than two days this so-called summer. And +everybody prophesied we should be roasted alive here in summer. + +We are all flourishing, and send our best love to Jack and you. Tell +Joyce the wallflowers have grown quite high in her garden. + +Ever your loving Pater. + +[Politics are not often touched upon in the letters of this period, but +an extract from a letter of October 25, 1891, is of interest as giving +his reason for supporting a Unionist Government, many of whose +tendencies he was far from sympathising with:--] + +The extract from the "Guardian" is wonderful. The Gladstonian +tee-to-tum cannot have many more revolutions to make. The only thing +left for him now, is to turn Agnostic, declare Homer to be an old bloke +of a ballad-monger, and agitate for the prohibition of the study of +Greek in all universities... + +It is just because I do not want to see our children involved in civil +war that I postpone all political considerations to keeping up a +Unionist Government. + +I may be quite wrong; but right or wrong, it is no question of party. +"Rads delight not me nor Tories neither," as Hamlet does not say. + +The following letter to Sir M. Foster shows how little Huxley was now +able to do in the way of public business without being knocked up:--] + +Hodeslea, October 20, 1891. + +My dear Foster, + +If I had known the nature of the proceedings at the College of +Physicians yesterday, I should have braved the tedium of listening to a +lecture I could not hear in order to see you decorated. Clark had made +a point of my going to the dinner [I.e. at the College of Physicians.], +and, worse luck, I had to "say a few words" after it, with the result +that I am entirely washed out to-day, and only able to send you the +feeblest of congratulations. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The same thing appears in the following to Sir W.H. Flower, which is +also interesting for his opinion on the question of promotion by +seniority:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, October 23, 1891. + +My dear Flower, + +My "next worst thing" was promoting a weak man to a place of +responsibility in lieu of a strong one, on the mere ground of seniority. + +Caeteris paribus, or with even approximate equality of qualifications, +no doubt seniority ought to count; but it is mere ruin to any service +to let it interfere with the promotion of men of marked superiority, +especially in the case of offices which involve much responsibility. + +I suppose as trustee I may requisition a copy of Woodward's Catalogue. +I should like to look a little more carefully at it...We are none the +worse for our pleasant glimpse of the world (and his wife) at your +house; but I find that speechifying at public dinners is one of the +luxuries that I must utterly deny myself. It will take me three weeks' +quiet to get over my escapade. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.9. + +1892. + +The revival of part of the former controversy which he had had with Mr. +Gladstone upon the story of creation, made a warlike beginning of an +otherwise very peaceful year. Since the middle of December a great +correspondence had been going on in the "Times", consequent upon the +famous manifesto of the thirty-eight Anglican clergy touching the +question of inspiration and the infallibility of the Bible. Criticism, +whether "higher" or otherwise, defended on the one side, was +unsparingly denounced on the other. After about a month of this +correspondence, Huxley's name was mentioned as one of these critics; +whereupon he was attacked by one of the disputants for "misleading the +public" by his assertion in the original controversy that while +reptiles appear in the geological record before birds, Genesis affirms +the contrary; the critic declaring that the word for "creeping things" +(rehmes) created on the sixth day, does not refer to reptiles, which +are covered by the "moving creatures" (shehretz) used of the first +appearance of animal life. + +It is interesting to see how, in his reply, Huxley took care to keep +the main points at issue separate from the subordinate and unimportant +ones. His answer is broken up into four letters. The first ("Times" +January 26) rehearses the original issue between himself and Mr. +Gladstone; wherein both sides agreed that the creation of the sixth day +included reptiles, so that, formally at least, his position was secure, +though there was also a broader ground of difference to be considered. +Before proceeding further, he asks his critic whether he admits the +existence of the contradiction involved, and if not, to state his +reasons therefor. These reasons were again given on February 1 as the +new interpretation of the two Hebrew words already referred to, an +interpretation, by the way, which makes the same word stand both for +"the vast and various population of the waters" and "for such land +animals as mice, weasels, and lizards, great and small." + +On February 3 appeared the second letter, in which, setting aside the +particular form which his argument against Mr. Gladstone had taken, he +described the broad differences between the teachings of Genesis and +the teachings of evolution. He left the minor details as to the +interpretation of the words in dispute, which did not really affect the +main argument, to be dealt with in the next letter of February 4. It +was a question with which he had long been familiar, as twenty years +before he had, at Dr. Kalisch's request, gone over the proofs of his +"Commentary on Leviticus". + +The letter of February 3 is as follows:--] + +While desirous to waste neither your space nor my own time upon mere +misrepresentations of what I have said elsewhere about the relations +between modern science and the so-called "Mosaic" cosmogony, it seems +needful that I should ask for the opportunity of stating the case once +more, as briefly and fairly as I can. + +I conceive the first chapter of Genesis to teach--(1) that the species +of plants and animals owe their origin to supernatural acts of +creation; (2) that these acts took place at such times and in such a +manner that all the plants were created first, all the aquatic and +aerial animals (notably birds) next, and all terrestrial animals last. +I am not aware that any Hebrew scholar denies that these propositions +agree with the natural sense of the text. Sixty years ago I was taught, +as most people were then taught, that they are guaranteed by Divine +authority. + +On the other hand, in my judgment, natural science teaches no less +distinctly--(1) that the species of animals and plants have originated +by a process of natural evolution; (2) that this process has taken +place in such a manner that the species of animals and plants, +respectively, have come into existence one after another throughout the +whole period since they began to exist on the earth; that the species +of plants and animals known to us are as a whole, neither older nor +younger the one than the other. + +The same holds good of aquatic and aerial species, as a whole, compared +with terrestrial species; but birds appear in the geological record +later than terrestrial reptiles, and there is every reason to believe +that they were evolved from the latter. + +Until it is shown that the first two propositions are not contained in +the first chapter of Genesis, and that the second pair are not +justified by the present condition of our knowledge, I must continue to +maintain that natural science and the "Mosaic" account of the origin of +animals and plants are in irreconcilable antagonism. + +As I greatly desire that this broad issue should not be obscured by the +discussion of minor points, I propose to defer what I may have to say +about the great "shehretz" and "rehmes" question till to-morrow. + +[On February 11 he wrote once more, again taking certain broader +aspects of the problem presented by the first chapter of Genesis. He +expressed his belief, as he had expressed it in 1869, that theism is +not logically antagonistic to evolution. If, he continues, the account +in Genesis, as Philo of Alexandria held, is only a poem or allegory, +where is the proof that any one non-natural interpretation is the right +one? and he concludes by pointing out the difficulties in the way of +those who, like the famous thirty-eight, assert the infallibility of +the Bible as guaranteed by the infallibility of the Church. + +Apart from letters and occasional controversy, he published this year +only one magazine article and a single volume of collected essays, +though he was busy preparing the Romanes Lecture for 1893, the more so +because there was some chance that Mr. Gladstone would be unable to +deliver the first of the lectures in 1892, and Huxley had promised to +be ready to take his place if necessary. + +The volume (called "Controverted Questions") which appeared in 1892, +was a collection of the essays of the last few years, mainly +controversial, or as he playfully called them, "endeavours to defend a +cherished cause," dealing with agnosticism and the demonological and +miraculous element in Christianity. That they were controversial in +tone no one lamented more than himself; and as in the letter to M. de +Varigny, of November 25, 1891, so here in the prologue he apologises +for the fact.] + +This prologue,--of which he writes to a friend], "It cost me more time +and pains than any equal number of pages I have ever written,"--[was +designed to indicate the main question, various aspects of which are +dealt with by these seemingly disconnected essays.] + +The historical evolution of humanity [he writes], which is generally, +and I venture to think not unreasonably, regarded as progress, has +been, and is being, accompanied by a co-ordinate elimination of the +supernatural from its originally large occupation of men's thought. The +question--How far is this process to go? is, in my apprehension, the +controverted question of our time. + +This movement, marked by the claim for the freedom of private judgment, +which first came to its fulness in the Renascence, is here sketched +out, rising or sinking by turns under the pressure of social and +political vicissitudes, from Wiclif's earliest proposal to reduce the +Supernaturalism of Christianity within the limits sanctioned by the +Scriptures, down to the manifesto in the previous year of the +thirty-eight Anglican divines in defence of biblical infallibility, +which practically ends in an appeal to the very principle they reject. + +But he does not content himself with pointing out the destructive +effects of criticism upon the evidence in favour of a +"supernature"--"The present incarnation of the spirit of the +Renascence," he writes, "differs from its predecessor in the eighteenth +century, in that it builds up, as well as pulls down. That of which it +has laid the foundation, of which it is already raising the +superstructure, is the doctrine of evolution," a doctrine that "is no +speculation, but a generalisation of certain facts, which may be +observed by any one who will take the necessary trouble." And in a +short dozen pages he sketches out that "common body of established +truths" to which it is his confident belief that "all future +philosophical and theological speculations will have to accommodate +themselves." + +There is no need to recapitulate these; they may be read in "Science +and Christian Tradition", the fifth volume of the "Collected Essays"; +but it is worth noticing that in conclusion, after rejecting "a great +many supernaturalistic theories and legends which have no better +foundations than those of heathenism," he declares himself as far from +wishing to "throw the Bible aside as so much waste paper" as he was at +the establishment of the School Board in 1870. As English literature, +as world-old history, as moral teaching, as the Magna Charta of the +poor and of the oppressed, the most democratic book in the world, he +could not spare it.] "I do not say," [he adds], "that even the highest +biblical ideal is exclusive of others or needs no supplement. But I do +believe that the human race is not yet, possibly may never be, in a +position to dispense with it." + +[It was this volume that led to the writing of the magazine article +referred to above. The republication in it of the "Agnosticism," +originally written in reply to an article of Mr. Frederic Harrison's, +induced the latter to disclaim in the "Fortnightly Review" the intimate +connection assumed to exist between his views and the system of +Positivism detailed by Comte, and at the same time to offer the olive +branch to his former opponent. But while gratefully accepting the +goodwill implied in the offer, Huxley still declared himself unable to] +"give his assent to a single doctrine which is the peculiar property of +Positivism, old or new," [nor to agree with Mr. Harrison when he +wanted:--] + +to persuade us that agnosticism is only the Court of the Gentiles of +the Positivist temple; and that those who profess ignorance about the +proper solution of certain speculative problems ought to call +themselves Positivists of the Gate, if it happens that they also take a +lively interest in social and political questions. + +[This essay, "An Apologetic Irenicon," contains more than one passage +of personal interest, which are the more worth quoting here, as the +essay has not been republished. It was to have been included in a tenth +volume of collected Essays, along with a number of others which he +projected, but never wrote. + +Thus, begging the Positivists not to regard him as a rival or +competitor in the business of instructing the human race, he says:--] + +I aspire to no such elevated and difficult situation. I declare myself +not only undesirous of it, but deeply conscious of a constitutional +unfitness for it. Age and hygienic necessities bind me to a somewhat +anchoritic life in pure air, with abundant leisure to meditate upon the +wisdom of Candide's sage aphorism, "Cultivons notre jardin"--especially +if the term garden may be taken broadly and applied to the stony and +weed-grown ground within my skull, as well as to a few perches of more +promising chalk down outside it. In addition to these effectual bars to +any of the ambitious pretensions ascribed to me, there is another: of +all possible positions that of master of a school, or leader of a sect, +or chief of a party, appears to me to be the most undesirable; in fact, +the average British matron cannot look upon followers with a more evil +eye than I do. Such acquaintance with the history of thought as I +possess, has taught me to regard schools, parties, and sects, as +arrangements, the usual effect of which is to perpetuate all that is +worst and feeblest in the master's, leader's, or founder's work; or +else, as in some cases, to upset it altogether; as a sort of hydrants +for extinguishing the fire of genius, and for stifling the flame of +high aspirations, the kindling of which has been the chief, perhaps the +only, merit of the protagonist of the movement. I have always been, am, +and propose to remain a mere scholar. All that I have ever proposed to +myself is to say, this and this have I learned; thus and thus have I +learned it: go thou and learn better; but do not thrust on my shoulders +the responsibility for your own laziness if you elect to take, on my +authority, conclusions, the value of which you ought to have tested for +yourself. + +[Again, replying to the reproach that all his public utterances had +been of a negative character, that the great problems of human life had +been entirely left out of his purview, he defends once more the work of +the man who clears the ground for the builders to come after him:--] + +There is endless backwoodsman's work yet to be done, If "those also +serve who only stand and wait," still more do those who sweep and +cleanse; and if any man elect to give his strength to the weeder's and +scavenger's occupation, I remain of the opinion that his service should +be counted acceptable, and that no one has a right to ask more of him +than faithful performance of the duties he has undertaken. I venture to +count it an improbable suggestion that any such person--a man, let us +say, who has well-nigh reached his threescore years and ten, and has +graduated in all the faculties of human relationships; who has taken +his share in all the deep joys and deeper anxieties which cling about +them; who has felt the burden of young lives entrusted to his care, and +has stood alone with his dead before the abyss of the eternal--has +never had a thought beyond negative criticism. It seems to me +incredible that such an one can have done his day's work, always with a +light heart, with no sense of responsibility, no terror of that which +may appear when the factitious veil of Isis--the thick web of fiction +man has woven round nature--is stripped off. + +[Challenged to state his "mental bias, pro or con," with regard to such +matters as Creation, Providence, etc., he reiterates his words written +thirty-two years before:--] + +So far back as 1860 I wrote:-- + +"The doctrine of special creation owes its existence very largely to +the supposed necessity of making science accord with the Hebrew +cosmogony"; and that the hypothesis of special creation is, in my +judgment, a "mere specious mask for our ignorance." Not content with +negation, I said:-- + +"Harmonious order governing eternally continuous progress; the web and +woof of matter and force interweaving by slow degrees, without a broken +thread, that veil which lies between us and the infinite; that universe +which alone we know, or can know; such is the picture which science +draws of the world." + +Every reader of Goethe will know that the second is little more than a +paraphrase of the well-known utterance of the "Zeitgeist" in "Faust", +which surely is something more than a mere negation of the clumsy +anthropomorphism of special creation. + +Follows a query about "Providence," my answer to which must depend upon +what my questioner means by that substantive, whether alone, or +qualified by the adjective "moral." + +If the doctrine of a Providence is to be taken as the expression, in a +way "to be understanded of the people," of the total exclusion of +chance from a place even in the most insignificant corner of Nature, if +it means the strong conviction that the cosmic process is rational, and +the faith that, throughout all duration, unbroken order has reigned in +the universe, I not only accept it, but I am disposed to think it the +most important of all truths. As it is of more consequence for a +citizen to know the law than to be personally acquainted with the +features of those who will surely carry it into effect, so this very +positive doctrine of Providence, in the sense defined, seems to me far +more important than all the theorems of speculative theology. If, +further, the doctrine is held to imply that, in some indefinitely +remote past aeon, the cosmic process was set going by some entity +possessed of intelligence and foresight, similar to our own in kind, +however superior in degree, if, consequently, it is held that every +event, not merely in our planetary speck, but in untold millions of +other worlds, was foreknown before these worlds were, scientific +thought, so far as I know anything about it, has nothing to say against +that hypothesis. It is, in fact, an anthropomorphic rendering of the +doctrine of evolution. + +It may be so, but the evidence accessible to us is, to my mind, wholly +insufficient to warrant either a positive or a negative conclusion. + +[He remarks in passing upon the entire exclusion of "special" +providences by this conception of a universal "Providence." As for +"moral" providence:--] + +So far as mankind has acquired the conviction that the observance of +certain rules of conduct is essential to the maintenance of social +existence, it may be proper to say that "Providence," operating through +men, has generated morality. Within the limits of a fraction of a +fraction of the living world, therefore, there is a "moral" providence. +Through this small plot of an infinitesimal fragment of the universe +there runs a "stream of tendency towards righteousness." But outside +the very rudimentary germ of a garden of Eden, thus watered, I am +unable to discover any "moral" purpose, or anything but a stream of +purpose towards the consummation of the cosmic process, chiefly by +means of the struggle for existence, which is no more righteous or +unrighteous than the operation of any other mechanism. + +[This, of course, is the underlying principle of the Romanes Lecture, +upon which he was still at work. It is more specifically expressed in +the succeeding paragraph:--] + +I hear much of the "ethics of evolution." I apprehend that, in the +broadest sense of the term "evolution," there neither is, nor can be, +any such thing. The notion that the doctrine of evolution can furnish a +foundation for morals seems to me to be an illusion which has arisen +from the unfortunate ambiguity of the term "fittest" in the formula, +"survival of the fittest." We commonly use "fittest" in a good sense, +with an understood connotation of "best"; and "best" we are apt to take +in its ethical sense. But the "fittest" which survives in the struggle +for existence may be, and often is, the ethically worst. + +[Another paragraph explains the sense in which he used to say that the +Romanes Lecture was a very orthodox discourse on the text, "Satan, the +Prince of this world":--] + +It is the secret of the superiority of the best theological teachers to +the majority of their opponents that they substantially recognise these +realities of things, however strange the forms in which they clothe +their conceptions. The doctrines of predestination, of original sin, of +the innate depravity of man and the evil fate of the greater part of +the race, of the primacy of Satan in this world, of the essential +vileness of matter, of a malevolent Demiurgus subordinate to a +benevolent Almighty, who has only lately revealed himself, faulty as +they are, appear to me to be vastly nearer the truth than the "liberal" +popular illusions that babies are all born good, and that the example +of a corrupt society is responsible for their failure to remain so; +that it is given to everybody to reach the ethical ideal if he will +only try; that all partial evil is universal good, and other optimistic +figments, such as that which represents "Providence" under the guise of +a paternal philanthropist, and bids us believe that everything will +come right (according to our notions) at last. + +As to "Immortality" again [he refers his critic to his book on "Hume"]. +I do not think I need return to "subjective" immortality, but it may be +well to add that I am a very strong believer in the punishment of +certain kinds of actions, not only in the present, but in all the +future a man can have, be it long or short. Therefore in hell, for I +suppose that all men with a clear sense of right and wrong (and I am +not sure that any others deserve such punishment) have now and then +"descended into hell" and stopped there quite long enough to know what +infinite punishment means. And if a genuine, not merely subjective, +immortality awaits us, I conceive that, without some such change as +that depicted in the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the +Corinthians, immortality must be eternal misery. The fate of Swift's +Struldbrugs seems to me not more horrible than that of a mind +imprisoned for ever within the flammantia moenia of inextinguishable +memories. + +Further, it may be well to remember that the highest level of moral +aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient +Jews--Micah, Isaiah, and the rest--who took no count whatever of what +might or might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me +why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles. + +[He admits that the generality of mankind will not be satisfied to be +told that there are some topics about which we know nothing now, and do +not seem likely ever to be able to know more; and, consequently, that +in the long-run the world will turn to those who profess to have +conclusions:--] + +And that is the pity of it. As in the past, so, I fear, through a very +long future, the multitude will continue to turn to those who are ready +to feed it with the viands its soul lusteth after; who will offer +mental peace where there is no peace, and lap it in the luxury of +pleasant delusions. + +To missionaries of the Neo-Positivist, as to those of other professed +solutions of insoluble mysteries, whose souls are bound up in the +success of their sectarian propaganda, no doubt, it must be very +disheartening if the "world," for whose assent and approbation they +sue, stops its ears and turns its back upon them. But what does it +signify to any one who does not happen to be a missionary of any sect, +philosophical or religious, and who, if he were, would have no sermon +to preach except from the text with which Descartes, to go no further +back, furnished us two centuries since? I am very sorry if people will +not listen to those who rehearse before them the best lessons they have +been able to learn, but that is their business, not mine. Belief in +majorities is not rooted in my breast, and if all the world were +against me the fact might warn me to revise and criticise my opinions, +but would not in itself supply a ghost of a reason for forsaking them. +For myself I say deliberately, it is better to have a millstone tied +round the neck and be thrown into the sea than to share the enterprises +of those to whom the world has turned, and will turn, because they +minister to its weaknesses and cover up the awful realities which it +shudders to look at. + +[A letter to Mr. N.P. Clayton also discusses the basis of morality.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 5, 1892. + +Dear Sir, + +I well remember the interview to which you refer, and I should have +replied to your letter sooner, but during the last few weeks I have +been very busy. + +Moral duty consists in the observance of those rules of conduct which +contribute to the welfare of society, and by implication, of the +individuals who compose it. + +The end of society is peace and mutual protection, so that the +individual may reach the fullest and highest life attainable by man. +The rules of conduct by which this end is to be attained are +discoverable--like the other so-called laws of Nature--by observation +and experiment, and only in that way. + +Some thousands of years of such experience have led to the +generalisations, that stealing and murder, for example, are +inconsistent with the ends of society. There is no more doubt that they +are so than that unsupported stones tend to fall. The man who steals or +murders, breaks his implied contract with society, and forfeits all +protection. He becomes an outlaw, to be dealt with as any other feral +creature. Criminal law indicates the ways which have proved most +convenient for dealing with him. + +All this would be true if men had no "moral sense" at all, just as +there are rules of perspective which must be strictly observed by a +draughtsman, and are quite independent of his having any artistic sense. + +The moral sense is a very complex affair--dependent in part upon +associations of pleasure and pain, approbation and disapprobation +formed by education in early youth, but in part also on an innate sense +of moral beauty and ugliness (how originated need not be discussed), +which is possessed by some people in great strength, while some are +totally devoid of it--just as some children draw, or are enchanted by +music while mere infants, while others do not know "Cherry Ripe" from +"Rule Britannia," nor can represent the form of the simplest thing to +the end of their lives. + +Now for this last sort of people there is no reason why they should +discharge any moral duty, except from fear of punishment in all its +grades, from mere disapprobation to hanging, and the duty of society is +to see that they live under wholesome fear of such punishment short, +sharp, and decisive. + +For the people with a keen innate sense of moral beauty there is no +need of any other motive. What they want is knowledge of the things +they may do and must leave undone, if the welfare of society is to be +attained. Good people so often forget this that some of them +occasionally require hanging almost as much as the bad. + +If you ask why the moral inner sense is to be (under due limitations) +obeyed; why the few who are steered by it move the mass in whom it is +weak? I can only reply by putting another question--Why do the few in +whom the sense of beauty is strong--Shakespere, Raffaele, Beethoven, +carry the less endowed multitude away? But they do, and always will. +People who overlook that fact attend neither to history nor to what +goes on about them. + +Benjamin Franklin was a shrewd, excellent, kindly man. I have a great +respect for him. The force of genial common-sense respectability could +no further go. George Fox was the very antipodes of all this, and yet +one understands how he came to move the world of his day, and Franklin +did not. + +As to whether we can all fulfil the moral law, I should say hardly any +of us. Some of us are utterly incapable of fulfilling its plainest +dictates. As there are men born physically cripples, and intellectually +idiots, so there are some who are moral cripples and idiots, and can be +kept straight not even by punishment. For these people there is nothing +but shutting up, or extirpation. + +I am, yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The peaceful aspect of the "Irenicon" seems to have veiled to most +readers the unbroken nature of his defence, and he writes to his +son-in-law, the Hon. John Collier, suggesting an alteration in the +title of the essay:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 8, 1892. + +My dear Jack, + +It is delightful to find a reader who "twigs" every point as acutely as +your brother has done. I told somebody--was it you?--I rather wished +the printer would substitute o for e in Irenicon. So far as I have seen +any notices, the British critic (what a dull ass he is) appears to have +been seriously struck by my sweetness of temper. + +I sent you the article yesterday, so you will judge for yourself. + +With love, ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +You should see the place I am claiming for Art in the University. I do +believe something will grow out of my plan, which has made all the dry +bones rattle. It is coming on for discussion in the Senate, and I shall +be coming to you to have my wounds dressed after the fight. Don't know +the day yet. + +[This allusion to the place of Art in the University refers to the +proposed reorganisation of the London University. + +Since the year 1887 the question of establishing a Teaching University +for London had become more and more pressing. London contained many +isolated teaching bodies of various kinds--University College, King's +College, the Royal College of Science, the Medical Schools, Bedford +College, and so forth, while the London University was only an +examining body. Clearly these scattered bodies needed organising; the +educational forces of the metropolis were disintegrated; much +teaching--and this was especially true of the medical schools--that +could have been better done and better paid in a single institution, +was split up among several, none of which, perhaps, could offer +sufficient inducement to keep the best men permanently. + +The most burning question was, whether these bodies should be united +into a new university, with power to grant degrees of its own, or +should combine with the existing University of London, so that the +latter would become a teaching as well as an examining body. And if so, +there was the additional question as to the form which this combination +should take--whether federation, for example, or absorption. + +The whole question had been referred to a Royal Commission by the +Government of Lord Salisbury. The results were seen in the charter for +a Gresham University, embodying the former alternative, and in the +introduction into Parliament of a Bill to carry this scheme into +effect. But this action had only been promoted by some of the bodies +interested, and was strongly opposed by other bodies, as well as by +many teachers who were interested in university reform. + +Thus at the end of February, Huxley was invited, as a Governor of +University College, to sign a protest against the provisions of the +Charter for a Teaching University then before Parliament, especially in +so far as it was proposed to establish a second examining body in +London. The signatories also begged the Government to grant further +inquiry before legislating on the subject + +The protest, which received over 100 signatures of weight, contributed +something towards the rejection of the Bill in the House of Commons. It +became possible to hope that there might be established in London a +University which should be something more than a mere collection of +teachers, having as their only bond of union the preparation of +students for a common examination. It was proposed to form an +association to assist in the promotion of a teaching university for the +metropolis; but the first draft of a scheme to reconcile the +complication of interests and ideals involved led Huxley to express +himself as follows:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 27, 1892. + +Dear Professor Weldon [Then at University College, London; now Linacre +Professor of Physiology at Oxford.], + +I am sorry to have kept you waiting so long for an answer to your +letter of the 17th: but your proposal required a good deal of +consideration, and I have had a variety of distractions. + +So long as I am a member of the Senate of the University of London, I +do not think I can with propriety join any Association which proposes +to meddle with it. Moreover, though I have a good deal of sympathy with +the ends of the Association, I have my doubts about many propositions +set forth in your draft. + +I took part in the discussions preliminary to Lord Justice Fry's +scheme, and I was so convinced that that scheme would be wrecked amidst +the complication of interests and ideals that claimed consideration, +that I gave up attending to it. In fact, living so much out of the +world now, and being sadly deaf, I am really unfit to intervene in +business of this kind. + +Worse still, I am conscious that my own ideal is, for the present at +any rate, hopelessly impracticable. I should cut away medicine, law, +and theology as technical specialities in charge of corporations which +might be left to settle (in the case of medicine, in accordance with +the State) the terms on which they grant degrees. + +The university or universities should be learning and teaching bodies +devoted to art (literary and other), history, philosophy, and science, +where any one who wanted to learn all that is known about these matters +should find people who could teach him and put him in the way of +learning for himself. + +That is what the world will want one day or other, as a supplement to +all manner of high schools and technical institution in which young +people get decently educated and learn to earn their bread--such as our +present universities. + +It will be a place for men to get knowledge; and not for boys and +adolescents to get degrees. + +I wish I could get the younger men like yourself to see that this is +the goal which they may reach, and in the meanwhile to take care that +no such Philistine compromise as is possible at present, becomes too +strong to survive a sharp shake. + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[He sketches his ideal of a modern university, and especially of its +relation to the Medical Schools, in a letter to Professor Ray Lankester +of April 11:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, April 11, 1892. + +My dear Lankester, + +We have been having ten days of sunshine, and I have been +correspondingly lazy, especially about letter-writing. This, however, +is my notion; that unless people clearly understand that the university +of the future is to be a very different thing from the university of +the past, they had better put off meddling for another generation. + +The mediaeval university looked backwards: it professed to be a +storehouse of old knowledge, and except in the way of dialectic +cobweb-spinning, its professors had nothing to do with novelties. Of +the historical and physical (natural) sciences, of criticism and +laboratory practice, it knew nothing. Oral teaching was of supreme +importance on account of the cost and rarity of manuscripts. + +The modern university looks forward, and is a factory of new knowledge: +its professors have to be at the top of the wave of progress. Research +and criticism must be the breath of their nostrils; laboratory work the +main business of the scientific student; books his main helpers. + +The lecture, however, in the hands of an able man will still have the +utmost importance in stimulating and giving facts and principles their +proper relative prominence. + +I think we should get pretty nearly what is wanted by grafting a +College de France on to the University of London, subsidising +University College and King's College (if it will get rid of its tests, +not otherwise), and setting up two or three more such bodies in other +parts of London. (Scotland, with a smaller population than London, has +four complete universities!) + +I should hand over the whole business of medical education and +graduation to a medical universitas to be constituted by the royal +colleges and medical schools, whose doings, of course, would be checked +by the Medical Council. + +Our side has been too apt to look upon medical schools as feeders for +Science. They have been so, but to their detriment as medical schools. +And now that so many opportunities for purely scientific training are +afforded, there is no reason they should remain so. + +The problem of the Medical University is to make an average man into a +good practical doctor before he is twenty-two, and with not more +expense than can be afforded by the class from which doctors are +recruited, or than will be rewarded by the prospect of an income of 400 +to 500 pounds a year. + +It is not right to sacrifice such men, and the public on whom they +practise, for the prospect of making 1 per cent of medical students +into men of science. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[An undated draft in his own handwriting (probably the draft of a +speech delivered the first time he came to the committee as President, +October 26) expands the same idea as to the modern requirements of the +University:--] + +The cardinal fact in the University question, appears to me to be this: +that the student to whose wants the mediaeval University was adjusted, +looked to the past and sought book-learning, while the modern looks to +the future and seeks the knowledge of things. + +The mediaeval view was that all knowledge worth having was explicitly +or implicitly contained in various ancient writings; in the Scriptures, +in the writings of the greater Greeks, and those of the Christian +Fathers. Whatever apparent novelty they put forward, was professedly +obtained by deduction from ancient data. + +The modern knows that the only source of real knowledge lies in the +application of scientific methods of inquiry to the ascertainment of +the facts of existence; that the ascertainable is infinitely greater +than the ascertained, and that the chief business of the teacher is not +so much to make scholars as to train pioneers. + +From this point of view, the University occupies a position altogether +independent of that of the coping-stone of schools for general +education, combined with technical schools of Theology, Law, and +Medicine. It is not primarily an institution for testing the work of +schoolmasters, or for ascertaining the fitness of young men to be +curates, lawyers, or doctors. + +It is an institution in which a man who claims to devote himself to +Science or Art, should be able to find some one who can teach him what +is already known, and train him in the methods of knowing more. + +I include under Art,--Literature, the pictorial and plastic art with +Architecture, and Music; and under Science,--Logic, Philosophy, +Philology, Mathematics, and the Physical Sciences. + +The question of the connection of the High Schools for general +education, and of the technical schools of Theology, Law, Medicine, +Engineering, Art, Music, and so on, with the University is a matter of +practical detail. Probably the teaching of the subjects which stand in +the relation of preliminaries to technical teaching and final studies +in higher general education in the University would be utilised by the +colleges and technical schools. + +All that I have to say on this subject is, that I see no reason why the +existing University of London should not be completed in the sense I +have defined by grafting upon it a professoriate with the appropriate +means and appliances, which would supply London with the analogue of +the Ecole des hautes Etudes and the College de France in Paris, and of +the Laboratories with the Professor Extraordinarius and Privat Docenten +in the German Universities. + +[A new Commission was promised to look into the whole question of the +London University. This is referred to in a letter to Sir J. Donnelly +of March 30, 1892.] + +Unless you want to kill Foster, don't suggest him for the Commission. +He is on one already. + +The whole affair is a perfect muddle of competing crude projects and +vested interests, and is likely to end in a worse muddle, as anything +but a patch up is, I believe, outside practical politics at present. + +If I had carte blanche, I should cut away the technical "Faculties" of +Medicine, Law, and Theology, and set up first-class chairs in +Literature, Art, Philosophy, and pure Science--a sort of combination of +Sorbonne (without Theology) and College de France. + +Thank Heaven I have never been asked to say anything, and my chimaeras +remain in petto. They would be scouted. + +[On the other hand, he was most anxious to keep the School of Science +at South Kensington entirely independent. He writes again on May 26:--] + +I trust Rucker and Thorpe are convinced by this time that I knew what I +was talking about when I told them, months ago, that there would be an +effort to hook us into the new University hotch-potch. + +I am ready to oppose any such project tooth and nail. I have not been +striving these thirty years to get Science clear of their +schoolmastering sham-literary peddling to give up the game without a +fight. I hope my Lords will be staunch. + +I am glad my opinion is already on record. + +[And similarly to Sir M. Foster on October 30:--] + +You will have to come to London and set up physiology at the Royal +College of Science. It is the only place in Great Britain in which +scientific teaching is trammelled neither by parsons nor by +litterateurs. I have always implored Donnelly to keep us clear of any +connection with a University of any kind, sort, or description, and I +tried to instil the same lesson into the doctors the other day. But the +"liberal education" cant is an obsession of too many of them. + +[A further step was taken in June, when he was sent a new draft of +proposals, afterwards adopted by the above-mentioned general meeting of +the Association in March 1893, sketching a constitution for a new +university, and asking for the appointment of a Statutory Commission to +carry it out. The University thus constituted was to be governed by a +Court, half of which should consist of university professors] ("As for +a government by professors only" [he writes in the "Times" of December +6, 1892], "the fact of their being specialists is against them. Most of +them are broad-minded; practical men; some are good administrators. +But, unfortunately, there is among them, as in other professions, a +fair sprinkling of one-idea'd fanatics, ignorant of the commonest +conventions of official relation, and content with nothing if they +cannot get everything their own way. It is these persons who, with the +very highest and purest intentions, would ruin any administrative body +unless they were counterpoised by non-professional, common-sense +members of recognised weight and authority in the conduct of affairs." +[Furthermore, against the adoption of a German university system, he +continues], "In holding up the University of Berlin as our model, I +think you fail to attach sufficient weight to the considerations that +there is no Minister of Public Instruction in these realms; that a +great many of us would rather have no university at all than one under +the control of such a minister, and whose highest representatives might +come to be, not the fittest men, but those who stood foremost in the +good graces of the powers that be, whether Demos, Ministry, or +Sovereign."); [it was to include such faculties as Law, Engineering, +Medicine, while it was to bring into connection the various teaching +bodies scattered over London. The proposers themselves recognised that +the scheme was not ideal, but a compromise which at least would not +hamper further progress, and would supersede the Gresham scheme, which +they regarded as a barrier to all future academic reform. + +The Association as thus constituted Huxley now joined, and was +immediately asked to accept the Presidency, not that he should do any +more militant work than he was disposed to attempt, but simply that he +should sit like Moltke in his tent and keep an eye on the campaign. + +He felt it almost a point of honour not to refuse his best services to +a cause he had always had at heart, though he wrote:--] + +There are some points in which I go further than your proposals, but +they are so much, to my mind, in the right direction that I gladly +support them. + +[And again:--] + +The Association scheme is undoubtedly a compromise--but it is a +compromise which takes us the right way, while the former schemes led +nowhere except to chaos. + +[He writes to Sir W.H. Flower:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, June 27, 1892. + +My dear Flower, + +I had quite given up the hope that anything but some wretched +compromise would come of the University Commission, when I found, to my +surprise, no less than gratification, that a strong party among the +younger men were vigorously taking the matter up in the right (that is, +MY) sense. + +In spite of all my good resolves to be a "hermit old in mossy cell," I +have enlisted--for ambulance service if nothing better. + +The move is too important to spare oneself if one can be of any good. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Of his work in this position Professor Karl Pearson says, in a letter +to me:-- + +Professor Huxley gallantly came to lead a somewhat forlorn hope,--that +of establishing a really great university in London. He worked, as may +naturally be supposed, with energy and persistence, and one, who like +myself was not in full sympathy with the lines he took, can but admire +the vigour he threw into the movement. Nothing came of it +practically;...but Professor Huxley's leadership did, at any rate, a +great deal to unite the London teachers, and raise their ideal of a +true university, while at the same time helping to repress the +self-interests of many persons and institutions which had been before +very much to the front. + +Clearly this is the sort of thing referred to in a letter of December +20:--] + +Got through the Association business very well, but had to show that I +am the kind of head that does not lend itself to wagging by the tail. + +[The Senate of the University of London showed practical unanimity in +accepting the idea of taking on teaching functions if the Commission +should think it desirable, though the Medical Schools were still +desirous of getting their degree granted on the mere license +examination of the Royal Colleges, without any evidence of general +culture or academical training, and on July 28 Huxley writes:--] + +The decision of the representatives of the Medical Schools is just such +as I should have expected. I always told my colleagues in the Senate of +the University of London that such was their view, and that, in the +words of Pears' advertisement, they "would not be happy till they got +it." + +And they won't get it unless the medical examining bodies are connected +into a distinct degree-giving body. + +[In the course of the autumn matters seemed to be progressing. He +writes to Sir M. Foster, November 9:--] + +I am delighted to say that Paget [Sir James Paget, Vice-Chancellor of +the University.] has taken up the game, and I am going to a committee +of the University this day week to try my powers of persuasion. If the +Senate can only be got to see where salvation lies and strike hard +without any fooling over details, we shall do a great stroke of +business for the future generations of Londoners. + +[And by the end of the year he writes:--] + +I think we are going to get something done, as the Senate of the +University of London has come into line with us, and I hope University +College will do the same. + +[Meanwhile he was asked if he would appear before the Commission and +give evidence--to "talk without interrogation" so as to convince the +Commission of the inadequacy of the teaching of science in general and +of the absence of means and appliances for the higher teaching. This he +did early in January 1893, representing partly his own views, partly +those of the Association, to whom he read what he proposed to say, +before being authorised to speak on their behalf. + +His position is finally defined by the following letter:--] + +February 9, 1893. + +Dear Professor Weldon, + +I wish anything I have said or shall say about the organisation of the +New University to be taken in connection with the following postulates +which I conceive to be of primary importance: + +1. The New University is not to be a separate body from the present +University of London. + +2. All persons giving academic instruction of a certain rank are to be +"University Professors." + +3. The Senate is to contain a large proportion of representatives of +the "University Professors" with a limited term of office (say five +years). + +4. The University chest is to receive all fees and other funds for +University purposes; and the Professors are to be paid out of it, +according to work done for the University--thus putting an end to the +present commercial competition of teaching institutions. + +5. In all questions of Teaching, Examination, and Discipline the +authority of the Senate is to be supreme--(saving appeal to the Privy +Council). + +Your questions will be readily answered if these postulates are kept in +view. + +In the case you put, the temptation to rivalry would not exist; and I +should imagine that the Senate would refuse funds for the purpose of +duplicating an existing Institution, unless very strong grounds for so +doing could be shown. In short, they would adopt the plan which +commends itself to you. + +That to which I am utterly opposed is the creation of an Established +Church Scientific, with a hierarchical organisation and a professorial +Episcopate. I am fully agreed with you that all trading competition +between different teaching institutions is a thing to be abolished (see +Number 4 above). + +On the other hand, intellectual competition is a very good thing, and +perfect freedom of learning and teaching the best of all things. + +If you put a physical, chemical, or biological bishop at the head of +the teachers of those sciences in London, you will do your best to +destroy that freedom. My bar to any catastrophe of that sort lies in +Number 3. Let us take the case of Biology. I suppose there will be, at +least, half a dozen Professoriates in different branches of this +subject each Professor will be giving the same amount of time and +energy to University work, and will deserve the same pay. Each, if he +is worth his salt, will be a man holding his own views on general +questions, and having as good a right as any other to be heard. Why is +one to be given a higher rank and vastly greater practical influence +than all the rest? Why should not each be a "University Professor" and +have his turn on the Senate in influencing the general policy of the +University? The nature of things drives men more and more into the +position of specialists. Why should one specialist represent a whole +branch of science better than another, in Council or in Administration? + +I am afraid we cannot build upon the analogy of Cambridge. In the first +place, London is not Cambridge; and, in the second, Michael Fosters do +not grow on every bush. + +The besetting sin of able men is impatience of contradiction and of +criticism. Even those who do their best to resist the temptation, yield +to it almost unconsciously and become the tools of toadies and +flatterers. "Authorities," "disciples," and "schools" are the curse of +science; and do more to interfere with the work of the scientific +spirit than all its enemies. + +Thus you will understand why I have so strongly opposed "absorption." +No one can feel more strongly than I the need of getting the present +chaos into order and putting an end to the absurd waste of money and +energy. But I believe that end may be attained by the method of +unification which I have suggested; without bringing in its train the +evils which will inevitably flow from "absorptive" regimentation. + +What I want to see is such an organisation of the means and appliances +of University instruction in all its branches, as will conduce to the +largest possible freedom of research, learning, and teaching. And if +anybody will show me a better way to that end than through the measures +I have suggested, I will gladly leave all and follow him. + +I am yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +P.S.--Will you be so kind as to let Professor Lankester see this +letter, as I am writing to him and shirk the labour of going over the +whole ground again. + +[His last public activity, indeed, was on behalf of University reform, +when in January 1895 he represented not only the Association, but, in +the enforced absence of Sir James Paget, the Senate of the University +also, on a deputation to Lord Rosebery, then Prime Minister, to whom he +wrote asking if he were willing to receive such a deputation.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 4, 1894. + +Dear Lord Rosebery, + +A number of scientific people, in fact I think I may say all the +leading men of science, and especially teachers in the country, are +very anxious to see the University of London reorganised upon the +general principles set forth in the Report of the last Royal Commission. + +To this end nothing is wanted but the institution of a strong Statutory +Commission; and we have all been hoping that a Bill would be introduced +for that purpose. + +It is rumoured that there are lions in the path. But even lions are +occasionally induced to retreat by the sight of a large body of +beaters. And some of us think that such a deputation as would willingly +wait on you, might hasten the desired movement. + +We proposed something of the kind to Mr. Acland months ago, but nothing +has come of the suggestion--not, I am sure, from any want of good will +to our cause on his part. + +Within the last few days I have been so strongly urged to bring the +matter before you, that in spite of some doubts as to the propriety of +going beyond my immediate chief the V.P. [The Vice-President of the +Committee of Council, Mr. Acland.] even in my private capacity I +venture to make this appeal. + +I am, dear Lord Rosebery, faithfully yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.10. + +1892. + +[Several letters of this year touch on educational subjects. The +following advice as to the best training for a boy in science, was +addressed to Mr. Briton Riviere, R.A.] + +Hodeslea, June 19, 1892. + +My dear Riviere, + +Touching the training of your boy who wants to go in for science, I +expect you will have to make a compromise between that which is +theoretically desirable and that which is practically most +advantageous, things being as they are. + +Though I say it that shouldn't, I don't believe there is so good a +training in physical science to be got anywhere as in our College at +South Kensington. But Bernard could hardly with advantage take this up +until he is seventeen at least. What he would profit by most as a +preliminary, is training in the habit of expressing himself well and +clearly in English; training in mathematics and the elements of +physical science; in French and German, so as to read those languages +easily--especially German; in drawing--not for hifalutin art, of which +he will probably have enough in the blood--but accurate dry +reproduction of form--one of the best disciplines of the powers of +observation extant. + +On the other hand, in the way of practical advantage in any career, +there is a great deal to be said for sending a clever boy to Oxford or +Cambridge. There are not only the exhibitions and scholarships, but +there is the rubbing shoulders with the coming generation which puts a +man in touch with his contemporaries as hardly anything else can do. A +very good scientific education is to be had at both Cambridge and +Oxford, especially Cambridge now. + +In the case of sending to the university, putting through the Latin and +Greek mill will be indispensable. And if he is not going to make the +classics a serious study, there will be a serious waste of time and +energy. + +So much in all these matters depends on the x contained in the boy +himself. If he has the physical and mental energy to make a mark in +science, I should drive him straight at science, taking care that he +got a literary training through English, French, and German. An average +capacity, on the other hand, may be immensely helped by university +means of flotation. + +But who in the world is to say how the x will turn out, before the real +strain begins? One might as well prophesy the effect of a glass of +"hot-with" when the relative quantities of brandy, water, and sugar are +unknown. I am sure the large quantity of brandy and the very small +quantity of sugar in my composition were suspected neither by myself, +nor any one else, until the rows into which wicked men persisted in +involving me began! + +And that reminds me that I forgot to tell the publishers to send you a +copy of my last peace-offering [The "Essays on Controverted +Questions."], and that one will be sent you by to-morrow's post. There +is nothing new except the prologue, the sweet reasonableness of which +will, I hope, meet your approbation. + +It is not my fault if you have had to toil through this frightfully +long screed; Mrs. Riviere, to whom our love, said you wanted it. "Tu +l'as voulu, Georges Dandin." + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following deals with State intervention in intermediate +education:--] + +(For Sunday morning's leisure, or take it to church and read it in your +hat.) + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, October 1, 1892. + +My dear Donnelly, + +Best thanks for sending on my letter. I do not suppose it will do much +good, but, at any rate, I thought I ought to try to prevent their +making a mess of medical education. + +I like what I have seen of Acland. He seemed to have both intelligence +and volition. + +As to intermediate education I have never favoured the notion of State +intervention in this direction. + +I think there are only two valid grounds for State meddling with +education: the one the danger to the community which arises from dense +ignorance; the other, the advantage to the community of giving capable +men the chance of utilising their capacity. + +The first furnishes the justification for compulsory elementary +education. If a child is taught reading, writing, drawing, and +handiwork of some kind; the elements of mathematics, physics, and +history, and I should add of political economy and geography; books +will furnish him with everything he can possibly need to make him a +competent citizen in any rank of life. + +If with such a start, he has not the capacity to get all he needs out +of books, let him stop where he is. Blow him up with intermediate +education as much as you like, you will only do the fellow a mischief +and lift him into a place for which he has no real qualification. +People never will recollect, that mere learning and mere cleverness are +of next to no value in life, while energy and intellectual grip, the +things that are inborn and cannot be taught, are everything. + +The technical education act goes a long way to meet the second claim of +the State; so far as scientific and industrial capacities are +concerned. In a few years there will be no reason why any potential +Whitworth or Faraday, in the three kingdoms, should not readily obtain +the best education that is to be had, scientific or technical. The same +will hold good for Art. So the question that arises seems to me to be +whether the State ought or ought not to do something of the same kind +for Literature, Philosophy, History, and Philology. + +I am inclined to think not, on the ground that the universities and +public schools ought to do this very work, and that as soon as they +cease to be clericalised seminaries they probably will do it. + +If the present government would only give up their Irish fad--and bring +in a bill to make it penal for any parson to hold any office in a +public school or university or to presume to teach outside the +pulpit--they should have my valuable support! + +I should not wonder if Gladstone's mind is open on the subject. Pity I +am not sufficiently a persona grata with him to offer to go to Hawarden +and discuss it. + +I quite agree with you, therefore, that it will play the deuce if +intermediate education is fossilised as it would be by any Act prepared +under present influences. The most I should like to see done, would be +to help the youth of special literary, linguistic and so forth, +capacity, to get the best training in their special line. + +It was lucky we did not go to you. My wife got an awful dose of +neuralgia and general upset, and was laid up at the Hotel. The house +was not quite finished inside, but we came in on Tuesday, and she has +been getting better ever since in spite of the gale. + +I am sorry to hear of the recurrence of influenza. It is a beastly +thing. Lord Justice Bowen told me he has had it every time it has been +in the country. You must come and try Eastbourne air as soon as we are +settled. With our love to you and Mrs. Donnelly. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Better be careful, I return all letters on which R.H. is not in full. +[An allusion to his recent Privy Councillorship. See below.] + +[The next is to a young man with aspirations after an intellectual +career, who asked his advice as to the propriety of throwing up his +business, and plunging into literature or science:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 5, 1892. + +Dear Sir, + +I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me +from sending an earlier reply to your letter. + +In my opinion a man's first duty is to find a way of supporting +himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting +him. Moreover, the learning to do work of practical value in the world, +in an exact and careful manner, is of itself a very important +education, the effects of which make themselves felt in all other +pursuits. The habit of doing that which you do not care about when you +would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable. It would have +saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me +in youth. + +Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of +capacity, industry, and energy. If you possess that equipment you will +find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make +an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself. If you do not, you had +better stick to commerce. Nothing is less to be desired than the fate +of a young man, who, as the Scotch proverb says, in "trying to make a +spoon spoils a horn," and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in +science, when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of +Society in other occupations. + +I think that your father ought to see this letter. + +Yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The last of the series, addressed to the secretary of a free-thought +association, expresses his firmly rooted disgust at the use of mere +ribaldry in attacking the theological husks which enclose a religious +ideal. + +May 22, 1892. + +Dear Sir, + +I regret that I am unable to comply with the wish of your committee. +For one thing, I am engaged in work which I do not care to interrupt, +and for another, I always make it a rule in these matters to "fight for +my own hand." I do not desire that any one should share my +responsibility for what I think fit to say, and I do not wish to be +responsible for the opinions and modes of expression of other persons. + +I do not say this with any reference to Mr. -- who is a sober and +careful writer. But both as a matter of principle and one of policy, I +strongly demur to a great deal of what appears as "free thought" +literature, and I object to be in any way connected with it. Heterodox +ribaldry disgusts me, I confess, rather more than orthodox fanaticism. +It is at once so easy; so stupid; such a complete anachronism in +England, and so thoroughly calculated to disgust and repel the very +thoughtful and serious people whom it ought to be the great aim to +attract. Old Noll knew what he was about when he said that it was of no +use to try to fight the gentlemen of England with tapsters and +serving-men. It is quite as hopeless to fight Christianity with +scurrility. We want a regiment of Ironsides. + +[This summer brought Huxley a most unexpected distinction in the shape +of admission to the Privy Council. Mention has already been made +(volume 2) of his reasons for refusing to accept a title for +distinction in science, apart from departmental administration. The +proper recognition of science, he maintained, lay in the professional +recognition of a man's work by his peers in science, the members of the +learned societies of his own and other countries. + +But, as has been said, the Privy Councillorship was an office, not a +title, although with a title attaching to the office; and in theory, at +least, a scientific Privy Councillor might some day play an important +part as an accredited representative of science, to be consulted +officially by the Government, should occasion arise. + +Of a selection of letters on the subject, mostly answers to +congratulations, I place first the one to Sir M. Foster, which gives +the fullest account of the affair.] + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 23, 1892. + +My dear Foster, + +I am very glad you think I have done rightly about the P.C.; but in +fact I could hardly help myself. + +Years and years ago I was talking to Donnelly about these things, and +told him that so far as myself was concerned, I would have nothing to +do with official decorations--didn't object to other people having +them, especially heads of offices, like Hooker and Flower--but +preferred to keep clear myself. But I added that there was one thing I +did not mind telling him, because no English Government would ever act +upon my opinion--and that was that the P.C. was a fit and proper +recognition for science and letters. I have no doubt that he has kept +this in mind ever since--in fact Lord Salisbury's letter (which was +very handsome) showed he had been told of my obiter dictum. Donnelly +was the first channel of inquiry whether I would accept, and was very +strong that I should. + +So you see if I had wished to refuse it, it would have been difficult +and ungracious. But, on the whole, I thought the precedent good. +Playfair tells me he tried to get it done in the case of Faraday and +Babbage thirty years ago, and the thing broke down. Moreover a wicked +sense of the comedy of advancing such a pernicious heretic, helped a +good deal. + +The worst of it is, I have just had a summons to go to Osborne on +Thursday and it is as much as I shall be able to do. + +We have been in South Wales, in the neighbourhood of the Colliers, and +are on our way to the Wallers for the Festival week at Gloucester. We +hope to get back to Eastbourne in the latter half of September and find +the house clean swept and garnished. After that, by the way, it is NOT +nice to say that we shall hope to have a visit from Mrs. Foster and you. + +With our love to you both. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I am glad you are resting, but oh, why another Congress! + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, June 21, 1892. + +My dear Donnelly, + +You have been and done me at last, you betrayer of confidence. This is +what comes of confiding one's pet weakness to a bosom-friend! + +But I can't deny my own words, or the accuracy of your devil of a +memory--and, moreover, I think the precedent of great importance. + +I have always been dead against orders of merit and the like, but I +think that men of letters and science who have been of use to the +nation (Lord knows if I have) may fairly be ranked among its nominal or +actual councillors. + +As for yourself, it is only one more kindness on the top of a heap so +big I shall say nothing about it. + +Mrs. Right Honourable sends her love to you both, and promises not to +be proud. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 20, 1892. + +My dear Donnelly, + +I began to think that Lord Salisbury had thought better of it--(I +should not have been surprised at all if he had) and was going to leave +me a P.P.C. instead of a P.C. when the announcement appeared yesterday. + +This morning, however, I received his own letter (dated the 16th), +which had been following me about. A very nice letter it is too--he +does the thing handsomely while he is about it. + +Well, I think the thing is good for science; I am not such a self +humbug as to pretend that my vanity is not pleasantly tickled; but I do +not think there is any aspect of the affair more pleasant to me, than +the evidence it affords of the strength of our old friendship. Because +with all respect for my noble friends, deuce a one would ever have +thought of it, unless you had not only put it--but rubbed it--into +their heads. + +I have not forgotten that private and confidential document that you +were so disgusted to find had been delivered to me! You have tried it +on before--so don't deny it. + +But bless my soul, how profound is old Cole's remark about the humour +of public affairs. To think of a Conservative Government--pride of the +Church--going out of its way to honour one not only of the wicked, but +of the notoriousest and plain-spoken wickedness. My wife and I drove +over to Dolgelly yesterday--do you know it? one of the loveliest things +in the three kingdoms--and every now and then had a laugh over this +very quaint aspect of the affair. + +Can you tell me what I shall have to do in the dim and distant future? +I suppose I shall have to go and swear somewhere (I am always ready to +do that on occasion). Is admission to the awful presence of Her Majesty +involved? Shall I have to rig up again in that Court suit, which I +hoped was permanently laid up in lavender? Resolve me these things. + +We shall be here I expect at least another week; and bring up at +Gloucester about the 3rd September. Hope to get back to Hodeslea latter +part of September. + +Ever yours faithfully. + +T.H. Huxley. + +To Sir J.D. Hooker. + +August 20. + +You will have seen that I have been made a P.C. If I had been offered +to be made a police constable I could not have been more flabbergasted +than I was when the proposition came to me a few weeks ago. I will tell +you the story of how it all came about when we meet. The Archbishopric +of Canterbury is the only object of ambition that remains to me. Come +and be Suffragan; there is plenty of room at Lambeth and a capital +garden! + +[To his youngest daughter:--] + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 22, 1892. + +Dearest Babs, + +If Lord Salisbury had known my address, M-- and I should have had our +little joke out before leaving Saundersfoot [Where he had been staying +with his daughter.], as the letter was dated 16th. It must be a month +since Lord Cranbrook desired Donnelly to find out if I would accept the +P.C., and as I heard no more about it up to the time of dissolution, I +imagined there was a hitch somewhere. And really, the more I think of +it the queerer does it seem, that a Tory and Church Government should +have delighted to honour the worst-famed heretic in the three kingdoms. + +I am sure Donnelly has been at the bottom of it, as he is the only +person to whom I ever spoke of the fitness of the P.C. for men of +science and letters. + +The queer thing is that his chief and Lord Salisbury listened to the +suggestion. + +Tell Jack he is simply snuffed out--younger sons of peers go with the +herd of Barts and knights, I believe. But a table of precedence is not +to be had for love or money--and my anxiety is wearing. + +This place is as perfectly delightful as Aberystwith was t'other... + +With best love to you all. + +Ever your Pater. + +To Mrs. W.K. Clifford. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 22, 1892. + +My dear Lucy, + +I am glad to think that it is the honours that blush and not the +recipient, for I am past that form of vascular congestion. + +It was known that the only peerage I would accept was a spiritual one; +and as Her Majesty shares the not unnatural prejudice which led her +illustrious predecessor (now some time dead) to object to give a +bishopric to Dean Swift, it was thought she could not stand the +promotion of Dean Huxley; would see * him in fact... * This is a pun. + +Lord Salisbury apologised for not pressing the matter, but pointed out +that, as Evolutionism is rapidly gaining ground among the people who +have votes, it was probable, if not certain, that his eminent successor +(whose mind is always open) would become a hot evolutionist before the +expiration of the eight months' office which Lord Salisbury (who needs +rest) means to allow him. And when eminent successor goes out, my +bishopric will be among the Dissolution Honours. If Her Majesty objects +she will be threatened with the immediate abolition of the House of +Lords, and the institution of a social democratic federation of +counties, each with an army, navy, and diplomatic service of its own. + +I know you like to have the latest accurate intelligence, but this +really must be considered confidential. As a P.C. I might lose my head +for letting out State secrets. + +Ever your affectionate Pater. + +To Sir Joseph Fayrer. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, Wales, August 28, 1892. + +It is very pleasant to get the congratulations of an old friend like +yourself. As we went to Osborne the other day I looked at the old +"Victory" and remembered that six and forty years ago I went up her +side to report myself on appointment, as a poor devil of an assistant +surgeon. And I should not have got that far if you had not put it into +my heed to apply to Burnett. + +To Sir Joseph Prestwich. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 31, 1892. + +My dear Prestwich, + +Best thanks for your congratulations. As I have certainly got more than +my temporal deserts, the other "half" you speak of can be nothing less +than a bishopric! May you live to see that dignity conferred; and go on +writing such capital papers as the last you sent me, until I write +myself your Right Reverend as well as Right Honourable old friend, + +T.H. Huxley. + +To Sir W.H. Flower. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth, August 31, 1892. + +My dear Flower, + +Many thanks for your congratulations, with Lady Flower's postscript not +forgotten. I should have answered your letter sooner, but I had to go +to Osborne last week in a hurry, kiss hands and do my swearing. It was +very funny that the Gladstone P.C.'s had the pleasure of welcoming the +Salisbury P.C.'s among their first official acts! + +I will gladly come to as many meetings of the Trustees as I can. Only +you must not expect me in very severe weather like that so common last +year. My first attack of pleurisy was dangerous and not painful; the +second was painful and not dangerous; the third will probably be both +painful and dangerous, and my commander-in-chief (who has a right to be +heard in such matters) will not let me run the risk of it. + +But I have marked down October 22 and November 24, and nothing short of +snow shall stop me. + +As to what you want to do, getting butter out of a dog's mouth is an +easier job than getting patronage out of that of a lawyer or an +ecclesiastic. But I am always good for a forlorn hope, and we will have +a try. + +We shall not be back at Eastbourne till the latter half of September, +and I doubt if we shall get into our house even then. We leave this for +Gloucester, where we are going to spend the festival week with my +daughter to-morrow. + +With our love to you both, ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I see a report that Owen is sinking. Poor old man; it seems queer that +just as I am hoist to the top of my tree he should be going +underground. But at 88 life cannot be worth much. + +To Mr. W.F. Collier. + +Cors-y-Gedol Hotel, Barmouth Water, August 31, 1892. + +Accept my wife's and my hearty thanks for your kind congratulations. +When I was a mere boy I took for motto of an essay, "What is honour? +Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday," and although I have my full +share of ambition and vanity, I doubt not, yet Falstaff's philosophical +observation has dominated my mind and acted as a sort of perpetual +refrigerator to these passions. So I have gone my own way, sought for +none of these things and expected none--and it would seem that the +deepest schemer's policy could not have answered better. We must have a +new Beatitude, "Blessed is the man who expecteth nothing," without its +ordinary appendix. + +I tell Jack [His son-in-law, Hon. John Collier.] I have worked hard for +a dignity which will enable me to put down his aristocratic swaggering. + +[It took some time, however, to get used to the title, and it was +October before he wrote:--] + +The feeling that "The Right Honourable" on my letters is a piece of +chaff is wearing off, and I hope to get used to my appendix in time. + +[The "very quaint" ceremony of kissing hands is described at some +length in a letter to Mrs. Huxley from London on his way back from +Osborne:--] + +Great Western Hotel, August 25, 1892, 6.40 P.M. + +I have just got back from Osborne, and I find there are a few minutes +to send you a letter--by the help of the extra halfpenny. First-rate +weather there and back, a special train, carriage with postillions at +the Osborne landing-place, and a grand procession of officers of the +new household and P.C.'s therein. Then waiting about while the various +"sticks" were delivered. + +Then we were shown into the presence chamber where the Queen sat at a +table. We knelt as if we were going to say our prayers, holding a +testament between two, while the Clerk of the Council read an oath of +which I heard not a word. We each advanced to the Queen, knelt and +kissed her hand, retired backwards, and got sworn over again (Lord +knows what I promised and vowed this time also). Then we shook hands +with all the P.C.'s present, including Lord Lorne, and so exit +backwards. It was all very curious... + +After that a capital lunch and back we came. Ribblesdale and several +other people I knew were of the party, and I found it very pleasant +talking with him and Jesse Collings, who is a very interesting man. + +"Oh," he said, "how I wish my poor mother, who was a labouring woman--a +great noble woman--and brought us nine all up in right ways, could have +been alive." Very human and good and dignified too, I thought. + +He also used to tell how he was caught out when he thought to make use +of the opportunity to secure a close view of the Queen. Looking up, he +found her eyes fixed upon him; Her Majesty had clearly taken the +opportunity to do the same by him. + +Regarding the Privy Councillorship as an exceptional honour for +science, over and above any recognition of his personal services, which +he thought amply met by the Civil List pension specially conferred upon +him as an honour at his retirement from the public service, Huxley was +no little vexed at an article in "Nature" for August 25 (volume 46 page +397), reproaching the Government for allowing him to leave the public +service six years before, without recognition. Accordingly he wrote to +Sir J. Donnelly on August 27:--] + +It is very unfair to both Liberal and Conservative Governments, who did +much more for me than I expected, and I feel that I ought to contradict +the statement without loss of time. + +So I have written the inclosed letter for publication in "Nature". But +as it is always a delicate business to meddle with official matters, I +wish you would see if I have said anything more than I ought to say in +the latter half of the letter. If so, please strike it out, and let the +first half go. + +I had a narrow shave to get down to Osborne and kiss hands on Thursday. +What a quaint ceremony it is! + +The humour of the situation was that we three hot Unionists, White +Ridley, Jesse Collings, and I, were escorted by the whole Gladstonian +household. + +[And again on August 30:--] + +In the interview I had with Lord Salisbury on the subject of an order +of merit--ages ago [See above.]--I expressly gave him to understand +that I considered myself out of the running--having already received +more than I had any right to expect. And when he has gone out of his +way to do honour to science, it is stupid of "Nature" to strike the +discordant note. + +[His letter appeared in "Nature" of September 1 (volume 46 page 416). +In it he declared that both Lord Salisbury's and Mr. Gladstone's +Governments had given him substantial recognition that Lord Iddesleigh +had put the Civil List pension expressly as an honour; and finally, +that he himself placed this last honour in the category of] "unearned +increments." + + +CHAPTER 3.11. + +1892. + +[The following letters are mainly of personal interest; some merely +illustrate the humorous turn he would give to his more intimate +correspondence; others strike a more serious note, especially those to +friends whose powers were threatened by overwork or ill-health. + +With these may fitly come two other letters; one to a friend on his +re-marriage, the other to his daughter, in reply to a birthday letter.] + +My wife and I send our warmest good wishes to your future wife and +yourself. I cannot but think that those who are parted from us, if they +have cognisance of what goes on in this world, must rejoice over +everything that renders life better and brighter for the sojourners in +it-- especially of those who are dear to them. At least, that would be +my feeling. + +Please commend us to Miss --, and beg her not to put us on the "Index," +because we count ourselves among your oldest and warmest friends. + +[To his daughter, Mrs. Roller:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 5, 1892. + +It was very pleasant to get your birthday letter and the photograph, +which is charming. + +The love you children show us, warms our old age better than the sun. + +For myself the sting of remembering troops of follies and errors, is +best alleviated by the thought that they may make me better able to +help those who have to go through like experiences, and who are so dear +to me that I would willingly pay an even heavier price, to be of use. +Depend upon it, that confounded "just man who needed no repentance" was +a very poor sort of a father. But perhaps his daughters were "just +women" of the same type; and the family circle as warm as the interior +of an ice-pail. + +[A certain artist, who wanted to have Huxley sit to him, tried to +manage the matter through his son-in-law, Hon. J. Collier, to whom the +following is addressed:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, January 27, 1892. + +My dear Jack, + +Inclosed is a letter for you. Will you commit the indiscretion of +sending it on to Mr. A.B. if you see no reason to the contrary? + +I hope the subsequent proceedings will interest you no more. + +I am sorry you have been so bothered by the critter--but in point of +pertinacity he has met his match. (I have no objection to your saying +that your father-in-law is a brute, if you think that will soften his +disappointment.) + +Here the weather has been tropical. The bananas in the new garden are +nearly ripe, and the cocoanuts are coming on. But of course you expect +this, for if it is unbearably sunny in London what must it be here? + +All our loves to all of you. + +Ever yours affectionately, Pater. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 1, 1892. + +My dear Hooker, + +I hear you have influenza rampaging about the Camp [The name of Sir J. +Hooker's house at Sunningdale.] and I want to point out to you that if +you want a regular bad bout of it, the best thing you can do is to go +home next Thursday evening, at ten o'clock at night, and plunge into +the thick of the microbes, tired and chilled. + +If you don't get it then, you will, at any rate, have the satisfaction +of feeling that you have done your best! + +I am going to the x, but then you see I fly straight after dinner to +Collier's per cab, and there is no particular microbe army in Eton +Avenue lying in wait for me. + +Either let me see after the dinner, or sleep in town, and don't worry. + +Yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 19, 1892. + +My dear Hooker, + +I have just received a notice that Hirst's funeral is to-morrow. But we +are in the midst of the bitterest easterly gale and snowfall we have +had all the winter, and there is no sign of the weather mending. + +Neither you nor I have any business to commit suicide for that which +after all is a mere sign of the affection we have no need to prove for +our dear old friend, and the chances are that half an hour cold chapel +and grave-side on a day like this would finish us. + +I write this not that I imagine you would think of going, but because +my last note spoke so decidedly of my own intention. + +But who could have anticipated this sudden reversion to Arctic +conditions! + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 18, 1892. + +My dear Donnelly, + +My wife got better and was out for a while yesterday, but she is +knocked up again to-day. + +It would have been very pleasant to see you both, but you must not come +down till we get fixed with a new cook and maid, as I believe we are to +be in a week or so. None of your hotel-going! + +I mourn over the departure of the present cookie--I believe she is +going for no other reason than that she is afraid the house will fall +on such ungodly people as we are, and involve her in the ruins. That is +the modern martyrdom--you don't roast infidels, but people who can +roast go to the pious. + +Lovely day to-day, nothing but east wind to remind one it is not +summer.--Crocuses coming out at last. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 27, 1892. + +My dear Hooker, + +I had to run up to town on Friday and forgot your letter. The x is a +puzzle--I will stick by the ship as long as you do, depend upon that. I +fear we can hardly expect to see dear old Tyndall there again. As for +myself, I dare not venture when snow is on the ground, as on the last +two occasions. And now, I am sorry to say, there is another possible +impediment in my wife's state of health. + +I have had a very anxious time of it altogether lately. But sich is +life! + +My sagacious grand-daughter Joyce (gone home now) observed to her +grandmother some time ago--"I don't want to grow up." "Why don't you +want to grow up?" "Because I notice that grown-up people have a great +deal of trouble." Sagacious philosopheress of 7! + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, April 3, 1892. + +My dear Hooker, + +As I so often tell my wife, "your confounded sense of duty will be the +ruin of you." You really, club or no club, had no business to be +travelling in such a bitter east wind. However, I hope the recent +sunshine has set you up again. + +Barring snow or any other catastrophe, I will be at "the Club" dinner +on the 26th and help elect the P.R.S. I don't think I go more than once +a year, and like you I find the smaller the pleasanter meetings. + +I was very sorry to see Bowman's death. What a first-rate man of +science he would have been if the Professorship at King's College had +been 1000 pounds a year. But it was mere starvation when he held it. + +I am glad to say that my wife is much better--thank yours for her very +kind sympathy. I was very down the last time I wrote to you. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, June 27, 1892. + +My dear Foster, + +My wife has been writing to Mrs. Foster to arrange for your visit, +which will be heartily welcome. + +Now I don't want to croak. No one knows better than I, the fatal +necessity for any one in your position: more than that, the duty in +many cases of plunging into public functions, and all the guttle, +guzzle, and gammon therewith connected. + +But do let me hold myself up as the horrid example of what comes of +that sort of thing for men who have to work as you are doing and I have +done. To be sure you are a "lungy" man and I am a "livery" man, so that +your chances of escaping candle-snuff accumulations with melancholic +prostration are much better. Nevertheless take care. The pitcher is a +very valuable piece of crockery, and I don't want to live to see it +cracked by going to the well once too often. + +I am in great spirits about the new University movement, and have told +the rising generation that this old hulk is ready to be towed out into +line of battle, if they think fit, which is more commendable to my +public spirit than my prudence. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, June 20, 1892. + +My dear Romanes, + +My wife and I, no less than the Hookers who have been paying us a short +visit, were very much grieved to hear that such a serious trouble has +befallen you. + +In such cases as yours (as I am sure your doctors have told you) +hygienic conditions are everything--good air and idleness, CONSTRUED +STRICTLY, among the chief. You should do as I have done--set up a +garden and water it yourself for two hours every day, besides pottering +about to see how things grow (or don't grow this weather) for a couple +more. + +Sundry box-trees, the majority of which have been getting browner every +day since I planted them three months ago, have interested me almost as +much as the general election. They typify the Empire with the G.O.M. at +work at the root of it! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, October 18, 1892. + +My dear Romanes, + +I throw dust and ashes on my head for having left your letter almost a +week unanswered. + +But I went to Tennyson's funeral; and since then my whole mind has been +given to finishing the reply forced upon me by Harrison's article in +the "Fortnightly", and I have let correspondence slide. I think it will +entertain you when it appears in November--and perhaps interest--by the +adumbration of the line I mean to take if ever that "Romanes" Lecture +at Oxford comes off. + +As to Madeira--I do not think you could do better. You can have as much +quiet there as in Venice, for there are next to no carts or carriages. +I was at an excellent hotel, the "Bona Vista," kept by an Englishman in +excellent order, and delightfully situated on the heights outside +Funchal. When once acclimatised and able to bear moderate fatigue, I +should say nothing would be more delightful and invigorating than to +take tents and make the round of the island. There is nothing I have +seen anywhere which surpasses the cliff scenery of the north side, or +on the way thither, the forest of heaths as big as sycamores. + +There is a matter of natural history which might occupy without +fatiguing you, and especially without calling for any great use of the +eyes. That is the effect of Madeiran climate on English plants +transported there--and the way in which the latter are beating the +natives. There is a Doctor who has lots of information on the topic. +You may trust anything but his physic. + +[The rest of the letter gives details about scientific literature +touching Madeira. + +A piece of advice to his son anent building a house:--] + +September 22, 1892. + +Lastly and biggestly, don't promise anything, agree to anything, nor +sign anything (swear you are an "illiterate voter" rather than this +last) without advice--or you may find yourself in a legal quagmire. +Builders, as a rule, are on a level with horse-dealers in point of +honesty--I could tell you some pretty stories from my small experience +of them. + +[The next, to Lord Farrer, is apropos of quite an extensive +correspondence in the "Times" as to the correct reading of the +well-known lines about the missionary and the cassowary, to which both +Huxley and Lord Farrer had contributed their own reminiscences.] + +Hodeslea, October 15, 1892. + +My dear Farrer, + +If YOU were a missionary +In the heat of Timbuctoo +YOU'd wear nought but a nice and airy +Pair of bands--p'raps cassock too. + +Don't you see the fine touch of local colour in my version! Is it not +obvious to everybody who understands the methods of high a priori +criticism that this consideration entirely outweighs the merely +empirical fact that your version dates back to 1837--which I must admit +is before my adolescence? It is obvious to the meanest capacity that +mine must be the original text in "Idee," whatever your wretched +"Wirklichkeit" may have to say to the matter. + +And where, I should like to know, is a glimmer of a scintilla of a hint +that the missionary was a dissenter? I claim him for my dear National +Church. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following is about a document which he had forgotten that he +wrote:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 24, 1892. + +My dear Donnelly, + +It is obvious that you have somebody in the Department who is an adept +in the imitation of handwriting. + +As there is no way of proving a negative, and I am too loyal to raise a +scandal, I will just father the scrawl. + +Positively, I had forgotten all about the business. I suppose because I +did not hear who was appointed. It would be a good argument for turning +people out of office after 65! But I have always had rather too much of +the lawyer faculty of forgetting things when they are done with. + +It was very jolly to have you here, and on principles of Christian +benevolence you must not be so long in coming again. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I do not remember being guilty of paying postage--but that doesn't +count for much. + +[The following is an answer to one of the unexpected inquiries which +would arrive from all quarters. A member of one of the religious orders +working in the Church of England wrote for an authoritative statement +on the following point, suggested by passages in section 5 of Chapter 1 +of the "Elementary Physiology":--When the Blessed Sacrament, +consisting, temporally and mundanely speaking, of a wheaten wafer and +some wine, is received after about seven hours' fast, is it or is it +not "voided like other meats"? In other words, does it not become +completely absorbed for the sustenance of the body? + +Huxley's help in this physiological question--and his answer was to be +used in polemical discussion--was sought because an answer from him +would be decisive and would obviate the repetition of statements which +to a Catholic were painfully irreverent.] + +Hodeslea, February 3, 1892. + +Sir, + +I regret that you have had to wait so long for a reply to your letter +of the 27th. Your question required careful consideration, and I have +been much occupied with other matters. + +You ask (1), whether the sacramental bread is or is not "voided like +other meats"? + +That depends on what you mean, firstly by "voided," and, secondly, by +"other meats." Suppose any "meat" (I take the word to include drink) to +contain no indigestible residuum, there need not be anything "voided" +at all--if by "voiding" is meant expulsion from the lower intestine. + +Such a meat might be "completely absorbed for the sustenance of the +body." Nevertheless, its elements, in fresh combinations, would be +eventually "voided" through other channels, e.g. the lungs and kidneys. +Thus I should say that under normal circumstances all "meats" (that is +to say, the material substance of them) are voided sooner or later. + +Now, as to the particular case of the sacramental wafer and wine. +Taking their composition and the circumstances of administration to be +as you state them, it is my opinion that a small residuum will be left +undigested, and will be voided by the intestine, while by far the +greater part will be absorbed and eventually "voided" by the lungs, +skin, and kidneys. + +If any one asserts that the wafer and wine are voided by the intestine +as such, that the "pure flour and water" of which the wafer consists +pass out unchanged, I am of opinion he is in error. + +On the other hand, if any one maintains that the material substance of +the wafer persists, while its accidents change, within the body, and +that this identical substance is sooner or later voided, I do not see +how he is to be driven out of that position by any scientific +reasoning. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe that the +elementary particles of the wafer and of the wine which enter the body +never lose their identity, or even alter their mass. If one could see +one of the atoms of carbon which enter into the composition of the +wafer, I conceive it could be followed the whole way--from the mouth to +the organ by which it escapes--just as a bit of floating charcoal might +be followed into, through, and out of a whirlpool. + +[On October 6, 1892, died Lord Tennyson. In the course of his busy +life, Huxley had not been thrown very closely into contact with him; +they would meet at the Metaphysical Society, of which Tennyson was a +silent member; and in the "Life of Tennyson" two occasions are recorded +on which Huxley visited him. + +November 11, 1871. + +Mr. Huxley and Mr. Knowles arrived here (Aldworth) on a visit. Mr. +Huxley was charming. We had much talk. He was chivalrous, wide, and +earnest, so that one could not but enjoy talking with him. There was a +discussion on George Eliot's humility. Huxley and A. both thought her a +humble woman, despite a dogmatic manner of assertion that had come upon +her latterly in her writings. (Op. cit. 2 110.) + +March 17, 1873. + +Professor Tyndall and Mr. Huxley called. Mr. Huxley seemed to be +universal in his interest, and to have keen enjoyment of life. He spoke +of "In Memoriam". (Ibid. 2 143.) + +With this may be compared one of Mr. Wilfrid Ward's reminiscences +("Nineteenth Century" August +1896). + +"Huxley once spoke strongly of the insight into scientific method shown +in Tennyson's 'In Memoriam', and pronounced it to be quite equal to +that of the greatest experts." + +This view of Tennyson appears again in a letter to Sir M. Foster, the +Secretary of the Royal Society:--] + +Was not Tennyson a Fellow of the Royal Society? If so, should not the +President and Council take some notice of his death and delegate some +one to the funeral to represent them? Very likely you have thought of +it already. + +He was the only modern poet, in fact I think the only poet since the +time of Lucretius, who has taken the trouble to understand the work and +tendency of the men of science. + +[But this was not the only side from which he regarded poetry. He had a +keen sense for beauty, the artistic perfection of expression, whether +in poetry, prose, or conversation. Tennyson's talk he described thus: +"Doric beauty is its characteristic--perfect simplicity, without any +ornament or anything artificial." And again, to quote Mr. Wilfrid +Ward's reminiscences:-- + +Tennyson he considered the greatest English master of melody except +Spenser and Keats. I told him of Tennyson's insensibility to music, and +he replied that it was curious that scientific men, as a rule, had more +appreciation of music than poets or men of letters. He told me of one +long talk he had had with Tennyson, and added that immortality was the +one dogma to which Tennyson was passionately devoted. + +Of Browning, Huxley said]: "He really has music in him. Read his poem +"The Thrush" and you will see it. Tennyson said to me," [he added], +"that Browning had plenty of music IN him, but he could not get it OUT." + +Eastbourne, October 15, 1892. + +My dear Tyndall, + +I think you will like to hear that the funeral yesterday lacked nothing +to make it worthy of the dead or the living. + +Bright sunshine streamed through the windows of the nave, while the +choir was in half gloom, and as each shaft of light illuminated the +flower-covered bier as it slowly travelled on, one thought of the +bright succession of his works between the darkness before and the +darkness after. I am glad to say that the Royal Society was represented +by four of its chief officers, and nine of the commonalty, including +myself. Tennyson has a right to that, as the first poet since Lucretius +who has understood the drift of science. + +We have heard nothing of you and your wife for ages. Ask her to give us +news, good news I hope, of both. + +My wife is better than she was, and joins with me in love. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[On his way home from the funeral in Westminster Abbey, Huxley passed +the time in the train by shaping out some lines on the dead poet, the +form of them suggested partly by some verses of his wife's, partly by +Schiller's + +Gib diesen Todten mir heraus, +Ich muss ihn wieder haben [Don Carlos, scene 9.], + +which came back to his mind in the Abbey. The lines were published in +the "Nineteenth Century" for November 1892. He declared that he +deserved no credit for the verses; they merely came to him in the train. + +His own comparison of them with the sheaf of professed poets' odes +which also appeared in the same magazine, comes in a letter to his +wife, to whom he sent the poem as soon as it appeared in print.] + +I know you want to see the poem, so I have cut it and the rest out of +the "Nineteenth" just arrived, and sent it. + +If I wore to pass judgment upon it in comparison with the others, I +should say, that as to style it is hammered, and as to feeling human. + +They are castings of much prettier pattern and of mainly +poetico-classical educated-class sentiment. I do not think there is a +line of mine one of my old working-class audience would have boggled +over. I would give a penny for John Burns' thoughts about it. +(N.B.--Highly impartial and valuable criticism.) + +[He also wrote to Professor Romanes, who had been moved by this new +departure to send him a volume of his own poems:--] + +Hodeslea, November 3, 1892. + +My dear Romanes, + +I must send you a line to thank you very much for your volume of poems. +A swift glance shows me much that has my strong sympathy--notably +"Pater loquitur," which I shall read to my wife as soon as I get her +back. Against all troubles (and I have had my share) I weigh a +wife-comrade "treu und fest" in all emergencies. + +I have a great respect for the Nazarenism of Jesus--very little for +later "Christianity." But the only religion that appeals to me is +prophetic Judaism. Add to it something from the best Stoics and +something from Spinoza and something from Goethe, and there is a +religion for men. Some of these days I think I will make a cento out of +the works of these people. + +I find it hard enough to write decent prose and have usually stuck to +that. The "Gib diesen Todten" I am hardly responsible for, as it did +itself coming down here in the train after Tennyson's funeral. The +notion came into my head in the Abbey. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[This winter also Sir R. Owen died, and was buried at Ham on December +23. The grave ends all quarrels, and Huxley intended to be present at +the funeral. But as he wrote to Dr. Foster on the 23rd:--] + +I had a hard morning's work at University College yesterday, and what +with the meeting of the previous evening and that infernal fog, I felt +so seedy that I made up my mind to go straight home and be quiet... + +There has been a bitter north-easter all day here, and if the like has +prevailed at Ham I am glad I kept out of it, as I am by no means fit to +cope with anything of that kind to-day. I do not think I was bound to +offer myself up to the manes of the departed, however satisfactory that +might have been to the poor old man. Peace be with him! + +[But the old-standing personal differences between the two made it +difficult for him to decide what to do with regard to a meeting to +raise some memorial to the great anatomist. He writes again to Sir M. +Foster, January 8, 1893:--] + +What am I to do about the meeting about Owen's statue on the 21st? I do +not wish to pose either as a humbugging approver or as a sulky +disapprover. The man did honest work, enough to deserve his statue, and +that is all that concerns the public. + +[And on the 18th:--] + +I am inclined to think that I had better attend the meeting at all +costs. But I do not see why I should speak unless I am called upon to +do so. + +I have no earthly objection to say all that I honestly can of good +about Owen's work--and there is much to be said about some of it--on +the contrary, I should be well pleased to do so. + +But I have no reparation to make; if the business were to come over +again, I should do as I did. My opinion of the man's character is +exactly what it was, and under the circumstances there is a sort of +hypocrisy about volunteering anything, which goes against my grain. + +The best position for me would be to be asked to second the resolution +for the statue--then the proposer would have the field of personal +fiction and butter-boat all to himself. + +To Sir W.H. Flower. + +December 28, 1892. + +I think you are quite right in taking an active share in the movement +for the memorial. When a man is dead and can do no more harm, one must +do a sum in subtraction:-- + +merits, deserts over x+x+x + +and if the x's are not all minus quantities, give him credit +accordingly. But I think that in your appeal, for which the Committee +will be responsible, it is this balance of solid scientific merit--a +good big one in Owen's case after all deductions--which should be alone +referred to. If you follow the example of "Vanity Fair" and call him "a +simple-minded man, who had he been otherwise, would long ago have +adorned a title," some of us may choke. + +Gladstone, Samuel of Oxford, and Owen belong to a very curious type of +humanity, with many excellent and even great qualities and one fatal +defect--utter untrustworthiness. Peace be with two of them, and may the +political death of the third be speedy and painless! + +With our united best wishes, ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And on January 22, 1893, he writes of the meeting:--] + +My dear Hooker, + +...What queer corners one gets into if one only lives long enough! The +grim humour of the situation when I was seconding the proposal for a +statue to Owen yesterday tickled me a good deal. I do not know how they +will report me in the "Times", but if they do it properly I think you +will see that I said no word upon which I could not stand +cross-examination. + +I chose the office of seconder in order that I might clearly define my +position and stop the mouths of blasphemers--who would have ascribed +silence or absence to all sorts of bad motives. + +Whatever the man might be, he did a lot of first-rate work, and now +that he can do no more mischief he has a right to his wages for it. + +If I only live another ten years I expect to be made a saint of myself. +"Many a better man has been made a saint of," as old Davie Hume said to +his housekeeper when they chalked up "St. David's Street" on his wall. + +We have been jogging along pretty well, but wife has been creaky, and I +got done up in a brutal London fog struggling with the worse fog of the +New University. + +I am very glad you like my poetical adventure. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[This speech had an unexpected sequel. Owen's grandson was so much +struck by it that he wrote asking Huxley to undertake a critical +account of his anatomical work for his biography,--another most +unexpected turn of events. It is not often that a conspicuous opponent +of a man's speculations is asked to pass judgment upon his entire work. +[See below.] + +At the end of the year an anonymous attack upon the administration of +the Royal Society was the occasion for some characteristic words on the +endurance of abuse to his old friend, M. Foster, then Secretary of the +Royal Society.] + +December 5, 1892. + +My dear Foster, + +The braying of my donkey prevented me from sending a word of sympathy +about the noise made by yours...Let not the heart be vexed because of +these sons of Belial. It is all sound and fury with nothing at the +bottom of it, and will leave no trace a year hence. I have been abused +a deal worse--without the least effect on my constitution or my comfort. + +In fact, I am told that Harrison is abusing me just now like a +pickpocket in the "Fortnightly", and I only make the philosophical +reflection, No wonder! and doubt if the reading it is worth half a +crown. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following letter to Mr. Clodd, thanking him for the new edition of +Bates' "Naturalist on the Amazons", helps to remove a reproach +sometimes brought against the Royal Society, in that it ignored the +claims of distinguished men of Science to membership of the Society:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 9, 1892. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +Many thanks for the new edition of "Bates." I was reading the Life last +night with great interest; some of the letters you have printed are +admirable. + +Lyell is hit off to the life. I never read a more penetrating +character-sketch. Hooker's letter of advice is as sage as might be +expected from a man who practised what he preached about as much as I +have done. I shall find material for chaff the next time my old friend +and I meet. + +I think you are a little hard on the Trustees of the British Museum, +and especially on the Royal Society. The former are hampered by the +Treasury and the Civil Service regulations. If a Bates turned up now I +doubt if one could appoint him, however much one wished it, unless he +would submit to some idiotic examination. As to the Royal Society, I +undertake to say that Bates might have been elected fifteen years +earlier if he had so pleased. But the Council cannot elect a man unless +he is proposed, and I always understood that it was the res angusta +which stood in the way. + +It is the same with --. Twenty years ago the Royal Society awarded him +the Royal Medal, which is about as broad an invitation to join us as we +could well give a man. In fact, I do not think he has behaved well in +quite ignoring it. Formerly there was a heavy entrance fee as well as +the annual subscription. But a dozen or fifteen years ago the more +pecunious Fellows raised a large sum of money for the purpose of +abolishing this barrier. At present a man has to pay only 3 pounds a +year and no entrance. I believe the publications of the Society, which +he gets, will sell for more. [The "Fee Reduction Fund," as it is now +called, enables the Society to relieve a Fellow from the payment even +of his annual fee, in that being F.R.S. costs him nothing.] + +So you see it is not the fault of the Royal Society if anybody who +ought to be in keeps out on the score of means. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.12. + +1893. + +[The year 1893 was, save for the death of three old friends, Andrew +Clark, Jowett, and Tyndall, one of the most tranquil and peaceful in +Huxley's whole life. He entered upon no direct controversy; he +published no magazine articles; to the general misapprehension of the +drift of his Romanes Lecture he only replied in the comprehensive form +of Prolegomena to a reprint of the lecture. He began to publish his +scattered essays in a uniform series, writing an introduction to each +volume. While collecting his "Darwiniana" for the second volume, he +wrote to Mr. Clodd:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 18, 1892. + +I was looking through "Man's Place in Nature" the other day. I do not +think there is a word I need delete, nor anything I need add except in +confirmation and extension of the doctrine there laid down. That is +great good fortune for a book thirty years old, and one that a very +shrewd friend of mine implored me not to publish, as it would certainly +ruin all my prospects. I said, like the French fox-hunter in "Punch", +"I shall try." + +[The shrewd friend in question was none other than Sir William +Lawrence, whose own experiences after publishing his book "On Man", +"which now might be read in a Sunday school without surprising +anybody," are alluded to in volume 1. + +He had the satisfaction of passing on his unfinished work upon Spirula +to efficient hands for completion; and in the way of new occupation, +was thinking of some day "taking up the threads of late evolutionary +speculation" in the theories of Weismann and others [See letter of +September 28, to Romanes.], while actually planning out and reading for +a series of "Working-Men's Lectures on the Bible," in which he should +present to the unlearned the results of scientific study of the +documents, and do for theology what he had done for zoology thirty +years before. + +The scheme drawn out in his note-book runs as follows:-- + +1. The subject and the method of treating it. + +2. Physical conditions:--the place of Palestine in the Old World. + +3. The Rise of Israel:--Judges, Samuel, Kings as far as Jeroboam II. + +4. The Fall of Israel. + +5. The Rise and Progress of Judaism. Theocracy. + +6. The Final Dispersion. + +7. Prophetism. + +8. Nazarenism. + +9. Christianity. + +10. Muhammedanism. + +11 and 12. The Mythologies. + +Although this scheme was never carried out, yet it was constantly +before Huxley's mind during the two years left to him. If Death, who +had come so near eight years before, would go on seeming to forget him, +he meant to use these last days of his life in an effort to illuminate +one more portion of the field of knowledge for the world at large. + +As the physical strain of the Romanes Lecture and his liability to loss +of voice warned him against any future attempt to deliver a course of +lectures, he altered his design and prepared to put the substance of +these Lectures to Working-Men into a Bible History for young people. +And indeed, he had got so far with his preparation, that the latter +heading was down in his list of work for the last year of his life, +1895. But nothing of it was ever written. Until the work was actually +begun, even the framework upon which it was to be shaped remained in +his mind, and the copious marks in his books of reference were the mere +guide-posts to a strong memory, which retained not words and phrases, +but salient facts and the knowledge of where to find them again. + +I find only two occasions on which he wrote to the "Times" this year; +one, when the crusade was begun to capture the Board Schools of London +for sectarianism, and it was suggested that, when on the first School +Board, he had approved of some such definite dogmatic teaching. This he +set right at once in the following letter of April 28, with which may +be compared the letter to Lord Farrer of November 6, 1894:--] + +In a leading article of your issue to-day you state, with perfect +accuracy, that I supported the arrangement respecting religious +instruction agreed to by the London School Board in 1871, and hitherto +undisturbed. But you go on to say that "the persons who framed the +rule" intended it to include definite teaching of such theological +dogmas as the Incarnation. + +I cannot say what may have been in the minds of the framers of the +rule; but, assuredly, if I had dreamed that any such interpretation +could fairly be put upon it, I should have opposed the arrangement to +the best of my ability. + +In fact, a year before the rule was framed I wrote an article in the +"Contemporary Review", entitled "The Board Schools--what they can do, +and what they may do," in which I argued that the terms of the +Education Act excluded such teaching as it is now proposed to include. +And I supported my contention by the following citation from a speech +delivered by Mr. Forster at the Birkbeck Institution in 1870:-- + +"I have the fullest confidence that in the reading and explaining of +the Bible, what the children will be taught will be the great truths of +Christian life and conduct, which all of us desire they should know, +and that no effort will be made to cram into their poor little minds, +theological dogmas which their tender age prevents them from +understanding." + +[The other was on a lighter, but equally perennial point of interest, +being nothing less than the Sea Serpent. In the "Times" of January 11, +he writes, that while there is no reason against a fifty-foot serpent +existing as in Cretaceous seas, still the evidence for its existence is +entirely inconclusive. He goes on to tell how a scientific friend's +statement once almost convinced him until he read the quartermaster's +deposition, which was supposed to corroborate it. The details made the +circumstances alleged by the former impossible, and on pointing this +out, he heard no more of the story, which was a good example of the +mixing up of observations with conclusions drawn from them. + +And on the following day he replies to another such detailed story:--] + +Admiral Mellersh says, "I saw a huge snake, at least 18 feet long," and +I have no doubt he believes he is simply stating a matter of fact. Yet +his assertion involves a hypothesis of the truth of which I venture to +be exceedingly doubtful. How does he know that what he saw was a snake? +The neighbourhood of a creature of this kind, within axe-stroke, is +hardly conducive to calm scientific investigation, and I can answer for +it that the discrimination of genuine sea-snakes in their native +element from long-bodied fish is not always easy. Further, that "back +fin" troubles me; looks, if I may say so, very fishy. + +If the caution about mixing up observations with conclusions, which I +ventured to give yesterday, were better attended to, I think we should +hear very little either about antiquated sea-serpents or new +"mesmerism." + +[It is perhaps not superfluous to point out that in this, as in other +cases of the marvellous, he did not merely pooh-pooh a story on the +ground of its antecedent improbability, but rested his acceptance or +rejection of it upon the strength of the evidence adduced. On the other +hand, the weakness of such evidence as was brought forward time after +time, was a justification for refusing to spend his time in listening +to similar stories based on similar testimony. + +Among the many journalistic absurdities which fall in the way of +celebrities, two which happened this year are worth recording; the one +on account of its intrinsic extravagance, which succeeded nevertheless +in taking in quite a number of sober folk; the other on account of the +letter it drew from Huxley about his cat. The former appeared in the +shape of a highly-spiced advertisement about certain Manx Mannikins, +which could walk, draw, play, in fact do everything but speak--were +living pets which might be kept by any one, and indeed Professor Huxley +was the possessor of a remarkably fine pair of them. Apply, enclosing +stamps etc. Of course, the wonderful mannikins were nothing more than +the pair of hands which anybody could dress up according to the +instructions of the advertiser; but it was astonishing how many +estimable persons took them for some lusus naturae. A similar +advertisement in 1880 had been equally successful, and one exalted +personage wrote by the hand of a secretary to say what pleasure and +interest had been excited by the description of these strange +creatures, and begging Professor Huxley to state if the account was +true. Accordingly on January 27 he writes to his wife, who was on a +visit to her daughter:--] + +Yesterday two ladies called to know if they could see the Manx +Mannikins. I think of having a board put up to say that in the absence +of the Proprietress the show is closed. + +[The other incident was a request for any remarks which might be of use +in an article upon the Home Pets of Celebrities. I give the letter +written in answer to this, as well as descriptions of the same cat's +goings-on in the absence of its mistress.] + +To Mr. J.G. Kitton. + +Hodeslea, April 12, 1893. + +A long series of cats has reigned over my household for the last forty +years, or thereabouts, but I am sorry to say that I have no pictorial +or other record of their physical and moral excellences. + +The present occupant of the throne is a large, young, grey +Tabby--Oliver by name. Not that he is in any sense a protector, for I +doubt whether he has the heart to kill a mouse. However, I saw him +catch and eat the first butterfly of the season, and trust that this +germ of courage, thus manifested, may develop with age into efficient +mousing. + +As to sagacity, I should say that his judgment respecting the warmest +place and the softest cushion in a room is infallible--his punctuality +at meal times is admirable; and his pertinacity in jumping on people's +shoulders, till they give him some of the best of what is going, +indicates great firmness. + +[To his youngest daughter:--] + +Hodeslea Eastbourne, January 8, 1893. + +I wish you would write seriously to M--. She is not behaving well to +Oliver. I have seen handsomer kittens, but few more lively, and +energetically destructive. Just now he scratched away at something that +M-- says cost 13 shillings 6 pence a yard--and reduced more or less of +it to combings. + +M-- therefore excludes him from the dining-room, and all those +opportunities of higher education which he would naturally have in MY +house. + +I have argued that it is as immoral to place 13 shillings 6 pence a +yard-nesses within reach of kittens as to hang bracelets and diamond +rings in the front garden. But in vain. Oliver is banished--and the +protector (not Oliver) is sat upon. + +In truth and justice aid your Pa. + +[This letter is embellished with fancy portraits of:--] + +Oliver when most quiescent (tail up; ready for action). +O. as polisher (tearing at the table leg). +O. as plate basket investigator. +O. as gardener (destroying plants in a pot). +O. as stocking knitter (a wild tangle of cat and wool). +O. as political economist making good for trade at 13 shillings 6 pence +a yard (pulling at a hassock). + +[The following to Sir John Evans refers to a piece of temporary +forgetfulness.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 19, 1893. + +My dear Evans, + +It is curious what a difference there is between intentions and acts, +especially in the matter of sending cheques. The moment I saw the +project of the Lawes and Gilbert testimonial in the "Times", I sent my +contribution in imagination--and it is only the arrival of this +circular which has waked me up to the necessity of supplementing my +ideal cheque by the real one inclosed. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Reference has been made to the writing of the Romanes Lecture in 1892. +Mr. Gladstone had already consented to deliver the first lecture in +that year; and early in the summer Professor Romanes sounded Huxley to +find out whether he would undertake the second lecture for 1893. Huxley +suggested a possible bar in his precarious health; but subject to this +possibility, if the Vice-Chancellor did not regard it as a complete +disability, was willing to accept a formal invitation. + +Professor Romanes reassured him upon this point, and further begged +him, if possible, to be ready to step into the breach if Mr. Gladstone +should be prevented from lecturing in the following autumn. The +situation became irresistible, and the second of the following letters +to Mr. Romanes displays no more hesitation.] + +To Professor Romanes. + +Hodeslea, June 3, 1892. + +I should have written to you yesterday, but the book did not arrive +till this morning. Very many thanks for it. It looks appetising, and I +look forward to the next course. + +As to the Oxford lecture, "Verily, thou almost persuadest me," though I +thought I had finished lecturing. I really should like to do it; but I +have a scruple about accepting an engagement of this important kind, +which I might not be able to fulfil. + +I am astonishingly restored, and have not had a trace of heart trouble +for months. But I am quite aware that I am, physically speaking, on +good behaviour--and maintain my condition only by taking an amount of +care which is very distasteful to me. + +Furthermore, my wife's health is, I am sorry to say, extremely +precarious. She was very ill a fortnight ago, and to my very great +regret, as well as hers, we are obliged to give up our intended visit +to Balliol to-morrow. She is quite unfit to travel, and I cannot leave +her here +alone for three days. + +I think the state of affairs ought to be clear to the Vice-Chancellor. +If, in his judgment, it constitutes no hindrance, and he does me the +honour to send the invitation, I shall accept it. + +To the same:--] + +Hodeslea, June 7, 1892. + +I am afraid that age hath not altogether cleared the spirit of mischief +out of my blood; and there is something so piquant in the notion of my +acting as substitute for Gladstone that I will be ready if necessity +arises. + +Of course I will keep absolutely clear of Theology. But I have long had +fermenting in my head, some notions about the relations of Ethics and +Evolution (or rather the absence of such as are commonly supposed), +which I think will be interesting to such an audience as I may expect. +"Without prejudice," as the lawyers say, that is the sort of topic that +occurs to me. + +[To the same:--] + +Hodeslea, October 30, 1892. + +I had to go to London in the middle of last week about the Gresham +University business, and I trust I have put a very long nail into the +coffin of that scheme. For which good service you will forgive my delay +in replying to your letter. I read all about your show--why not call it +"George's Gorgeous," tout court? + +I should think that there is no living man, who, on such an occasion, +could intend and contrive to say so much and so well (in form) without +ever rising above the level of antiquarian gossip. + +My lecture would have been ready if the G.O.M. had failed you, but I am +very glad to have six months' respite, as I now shall be able to write +and rewrite it to my heart's content. + +I will follow the Gladstonian precedent touching cap and gown--but I +trust the Vice-Chancellor will not ask me to take part in a "Church +Parade" and read the lessons. I couldn't--really. + +As to the financial part of the business, to tell you the honest truth, +I would much rather not be paid at all for a piece of work of this +kind. I am no more averse to turning an honest penny by my brains than +any one else in the ordinary course of things--quite the contrary; but +this is not an ordinary occasion. However, this is a pure matter of +taste, and I do not want to set a precedent which might be inconvenient +to other people--so I agree to what you propose. + +By the way, is there any type-writer who is to be trusted in Oxford? +Some time ago I sent a manuscript to a London type-writer, and to my +great disgust I shortly afterwards saw an announcement that I was +engaged on the topic. + +[On the following day he writes to his wife, who was staying with her +youngest daughter in town:--] + +The Vice-Chancellor has written to me and I have fixed May--exact day +by and by. Mrs. Romanes has written a crispy little letter to remind us +of our promise to go there, and I have chirrupped back. + +[The "chirrup" ran as follows:--] + +Hodeslea, November 1, 1892. + +My dear Mrs. Romanes, + +I have just written to the Vice-Chancellor to say that I hope to be at +his disposition any time next May. + +My wife is "larking"--I am sorry to use such a word, but what she is +pleased to tell me of her doings leaves me no alternative--in London, +whither I go on Thursday to fetch her back--in chains, if necessary. +But I know, in the matter of being "taken in and done for" by your +hospitable selves, I may, for once, speak for her as well as myself. + +Don't ask anybody above the rank of a younger son of a Peer--because I +shall not be able to go in to dinner before him or her--and that part +of my dignity is naturally what I prize most. Would you not like me to +come in my P.C. suit? All ablaze with gold, and costing a sum with +which I could buy, oh! so many books! + +Only if your late experiences should prompt you to instruct your other +guests not to contradict me--don't. I rather like it. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Bon Voyage! You can tell Mr. Jones [The hotel-keeper in Madeira.] that +I will have him brought before the Privy Council and fined, as in the +good old days, if he does not treat you properly. + +[This letter was afterwards published in Mrs. Romanes' Life of her +husband, and three letters on that occasion, and particularly that in +which Huxley tried to guard her from any malicious interpretation of +his jests, are to be found on page 332. + +On the afternoon of May 18, 1893, he delivered at Oxford his Romanes +Lecture, on "Evolution and Ethics," a study of the relation of ethical +and evolutionary theory in the history of philosophy, the text of which +is that while morality is necessarily a part of the order of nature, +still the ethical principle is opposed to the self-regarding principle +on which cosmic evolution has taken place. Society is a part of nature, +but would be dissolved by a return to the natural state of simple +warfare among individuals. It follows that ethical systems based on the +principles of cosmic evolution are not logically sound. A study of the +essays of the foregoing ten years will show that he had more than once +enunciated this thesis, and it had been one of the grounds of his +long-standing criticism of Mr. Spencer's system. + +The essence of this criticism is given in portions of two letters to +Mr. F.J. Gould, who, when preparing a pamphlet on "Agnosticism writ +Plain" in 1889, wrote to inquire what was the dividing line between the +two Agnostic positions.] + +As between Mr. Spencer and myself, the question is not one of "a +dividing line," but of entire and complete divergence as soon as we +leave the foundations laid by Hume, Kant, and Hamilton, who are MY +philosophical forefathers. To my mind the "Absolute" philosophies were +finally knocked on the head by Hamilton; and the "Unknowable" in Mr. +Spencer's sense is merely the Absolute redivivus, a sort of ghost of an +extinct philosophy, the name of a negation hocus-pocussed into a sham +thing. If I am to talk about that of which I have no knowledge at all, +I prefer the good old word "God", about which there is no scientific +pretence. + +To my mind Agnosticism is simply the critical attitude of the thinking +faculty, and the definition of it should contain no dogmatic +implications of any kind. I, for my part, do not know whether the +problem of existence is insoluble or not; or whether the ultimate cause +(if there be such a thing) is unknown or not. That of which I am +certain is, that no satisfactory solution of this problem has been +offered, and that, from the nature of the intellectual faculty, I am +unable to conceive that such a solution will ever be found. But on +that, as on all other questions, my mind is open to consider any new +evidence that may be offered. + +[And later:--] + +I have long been aware of the manner in which my views have been +confounded with those of Mr. Spencer, though no one was more fully +aware of our divergence than the latter. Perhaps I have done wrongly in +letting the thing slide so long, but I was anxious to avoid a breach +with an old friend... + +Whether the Unknowable or any other Noumenon exists or does not exist, +I am quite clear I have no knowledge either way. So with respect to +whether there is anything behind Force or not, I am ignorant; I neither +affirm nor deny. The tendency to idolatry in the human mind is so +strong that faute de mieux it falls down and worships negative +abstractions, as much the creation of the mind as the stone idol of the +hands. The one object of the Agnostic (in the true sense) is to knock +this tendency on the head whenever or wherever it shows itself. Our +physical science is full of it. + +[Nevertheless, the doctrine seemed to take almost everybody by +surprise. The drift of the lecture was equally misunderstood by critics +of opposite camps. Huxley was popularly supposed to hold the same views +as Mr. Spencer--for were they not both Evolutionists? On general +attention being called to the existing difference between their views, +some jumped to the conclusion that Huxley was offering a general +recantation of evolution, others that he had discarded his former +theories of ethics. On the one hand he was branded as a deserter from +free thought; on the other, hailed almost as a convert to orthodoxy. It +was irritating, but little more than he had expected. The conditions of +the lecture forbade any reference to politics or religion; hence much +had to be left unsaid, which was supplied next year in the Prolegomena +prefacing the re-issue of the lecture. + +After all possible trimming and compression, he still feared the +lecture would be too long, and would take more than an hour to deliver, +especially if the audience was likely to be large, for the numbers must +be considered in reference to the speed of speaking. But he had taken +even more pains than usual with it.] "The Lecture," [he writes to +Professor Romanes on April 19], "has been in type for weeks, if not +months, as I have been taking an immensity of trouble over it. And I +can judge of nothing till it is in type." [But this very precaution led +to unexpected complications. When the proposition to lecture was first +made to him, he was not sent a copy of the statute ordering that +publication in the first instance should lie with the University Press; +and in view of the proviso that "the Lecturer is free to publish on his +own behalf in any other form he may like," he had taken Professor +Romanes' original reference to publication by the Press to be a +subsidiary request to which he gladly assented. However, a satisfactory +arrangement was speedily arrived at with the publishers; Huxley +remarking:--] + +All I have to say is, do not let the University be in any way a loser +by the change. If the V.-C. thinks there is any risk of this, I will +gladly add to what Macmillan pays. That matter can be settled between +us. + +[However, he had not forgotten the limitation of his subject in respect +of religion and politics, and he repeatedly refers to his careful +avoidance of these topics as an "egg-dance." And wishing to reassure +Mr. Romanes on this head, he writes on April 22:--] + +There is no allusion to politics in my lecture, nor to any religion +except Buddhism, and only to the speculative and ethical side of that. +If people apply anything I say about these matters to modern +philosophies, except evolutionary speculation, and religions, that is +not my affair. To be honest, however, unless I thought they would, I +should never have taken all the pains I have bestowed on these 36 pages. + +[But these words conjured up terrible possibilities, and Mr. Romanes +wrote back in great alarm to ask the exact state of the case. The two +following letters show that the alarm was groundless:--] + +Hodeslea, April 26, 1893. + +My dear Romanes, + +I fear, or rather hope, that I have given you a very unnecessary scare. + +You may be quite sure, I think, that, while I should have refused to +give the lecture if any pledge of a special character had been proposed +to me, I have felt very strongly bound to you to take the utmost care +that no shadow of a just cause for offence should be given, even to the +most orthodox of Dons. + +It seems to me that the best thing I can do is to send you the lecture +as it stands, notes and all. But please return it within two days at +furthest, and consider it STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL between us two (I am +not excluding Mrs. Romanes, if she cares to look at the paper). No +consideration would induce me to give any ground for the notion that I +had submitted the lecture to any one but yourself. + +If there is any phrase in the lecture which you think likely to get you +into trouble, out it shall come or be modified in form. + +If the whole thing is too much for the Dons' nerves--I am no judge of +their delicacy--I am quite ready to give up the lecture. + +In fact I do not know whether I shall be able to make myself heard +three weeks hence, as the influenza has left its mark in hoarseness and +pain in the throat after speaking. + +So you see if the thing is altogether too wicked there is an easy way +out of it. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, April 28, 1893. + +My dear Romanes, + +My mind is made easy by such a handsome acquittal from you and the Lady +Abbess, your coadjutor in the Holy Office. + +My wife, who is my inquisitor and confessor in ordinary, has gone over +the lecture twice, without scenting a heresy, and if she and Mrs. +Romanes fail--a fico for a mere male don's nose! + +From the point of view of the complete argument, I agree with you about +note 19. But the dangers of open collision with orthodoxy on the one +hand and Spencer on the other, increased with the square of the +enlargement of the final pages, and I was most anxious for giving no +handle to any one who might like to say I had used the lecture for +purposes of attack. Moreover, in spite of all reduction, the lecture is +too long already. + +But I think it not improbable that in spite of my meekness and +peacefulness, neither the one side nor the other will let me alone. And +then you see, I shall have an opportunity of making things plain, under +no restriction. You will not be responsible for anything said in the +second edition, nor can the Donniest of Dons grumble. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +The double negative is Shakspearian. See Hamlet, act 2 scene 2. + +[Unfortunately for the entire success of the lecture, he was suffering +from the results of influenza, more especially a loss of voice. He +writes (April 18):--] + +After getting through the winter successfully I have had the +ill-fortune to be seized with influenza. I believe I must have got it +from the microbes haunting some of the three hundred doctors at the +Virchow dinner. [On the 16th March.] + +I had next to no symptoms except debility, and though I am much better +I cannot quite shake that off. As usual with me it affects my voice. I +hope this will get right before this day month, but I expect I shall +have to nurse it. I do not want to interfere with any of your +hospitable plans, and I think if you will ensure me quiet on the +morning of the 18th (I understand the lecture is in the afternoon) it +will suffice. After the thing is over I am ready for anything from +pitch and toss onwards. + +[Two more letters dated before the 18th of May touch on the +circumstances of the lecture. One is to his son-in-law, John Collier; +the other to his old friend Tyndall, the last he ever wrote him, and +containing a cheery reference to the advance of old age.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 9, 1893. + +My dear Jack, + +...M-- is better, and I am getting my voice back. But may St. +Ernulphus' curse descend on influenza microbes! They tried to work +their way out at my nose, and converted me into a disreputable Captain +Costigan-looking person ten days ago. Now they are working at my lips. + +For the credit of the family I hope I shall be more reputable by the +18th. + +I hope you will appreciate my dexterity. The lecture is a regular +egg-dance. That I should discourse on Ethics to the University of +Oxford and say all I want to say, without a word anybody can quarrel +with, is decidedly the most piquant occurrence in my career... + +Ever yours affectionately, Pater. + +To Professor Tyndall. + +P.S. to be read first. + +Eastbourne, May 15, 1893. + +My dear Tyndall, + +There are not many apples (and those mostly of the crab sort) left upon +the old tree, but I send you the product of the last shaking. Please +keep it out of any hands but your wife's and yours till Thursday, when +I am to "stand and deliver" it, if I have voice enough, which is +doubtful. The sequelae of influenza in my case have been mostly pimples +and procrastination, the former largely on my nose, so that I have been +a spectacle. Besides these, loss of voice. The pimples are mostly gone +and the procrastination is not much above normal, but what will happen +when I try to fill the Sheldonian Theatre is very doubtful. + +Who would have thought thirty-three years ago, when the great "Sammy" +fight came off, that the next time I should speak at Oxford would be in +succession to Gladstone, on "Evolution and Ethics" as an invited +lecturer? + +There was something so quaint about the affair that I really could not +resist, though the wisdom of putting so much strain on my creaky +timbers is very questionable. Mind you wish me well through it at 2.30 +on Thursday. + +I wish we could have better news of you. As to dying by inches, that is +what we are all doing, my dear old fellow; the only thing is to +establish a proper ratio between inch and time. Eight years ago I had +good reason to say the same thing of myself, but my inch has lengthened +out in a most extraordinary way. Still I confess we are getting older; +and my dear wife has been greatly shaken by repeated attacks of violent +pain which seizes her quite unexpectedly. I am always glad, both on her +account and my own, to get back into the quiet and good air here as +fast as possible, and in another year or two, if I live so long, I +shall clear out of all engagements that take me away... + +T.H. Huxley. + +NOT TO BE ANSWERED, and you had better get Mrs. Tyndall to read it to +you or you will say naughty words about the scrawl. + +[Sanguine as he had resolved to be about the recovery of his voice, his +fear lest "1000 out of the 2000 won't hear" was very near realisation. +The Sheldonian Theatre was thronged before he appeared on the platform, +a striking presence in his D.C.L. robes, and looking very leonine with +his silvery gray hair sweeping back in one long wave from his forehead, +and the rugged squareness of his features tempered by the benignity of +an old age which has seen much and overcome much. He read the lecture +from a printed copy, not venturing, as he would have liked, upon the +severe task of speaking it from memory, considering its length and the +importance of preserving the exact wording. He began in a somewhat low +tone, nursing his voice for the second half of the discourse. From the +more distant parts of the theatre came several cries of "speak up"; and +after a time a rather disturbing migration of eager undergraduates +began from the galleries to the body of the hall. The latter part was +indeed more audible than the first; still a number of the audience were +disappointed in hearing imperfectly. However, the lecture had a large +sale; the first edition of 2000 was exhausted by the end of the month; +and another 700 in the next ten days. + +After leaving Oxford, and paying a pleasant visit to one of the +Fannings (his wife's nephew) at Tew, Huxley intended to visit another +of the family, Mrs. Crowder, in Lincolnshire, but on reaching London +found himself dead beat, and had to retire to Eastbourne, whence he +writes to Sir M. Foster and to Mr. Romanes.] + +Hodeslea, May 26, 1893. + +My dear Foster, + +Your letter has been following me about. I had not got rid of my +influenza at Oxford, so the exertion and the dinner parties together +played the deuce with me. + +We had got so far as the Great Northern Hotel on our way to some +connections in Lincolnshire, when I had to give it up and retreat here +to begin convalescing again. + +I do not feel sure of coming to the Harvey affair after all. But if I +do, it will be alone, and I think I had better accept the hospitality +of the college; which will by no means be so jolly as Shelford, but +probably more prudent, considering the necessity of dining out. + +The fact is, my dear friend, I am getting old. + +I am very sorry to hear you have been doing your influenza also. It's a +beastly thing, as I have it, no symptoms except going flop. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Nobody sees that the lecture is a very orthodox production on the text +(if there is such a one), "Satan the Prince of this world." + +I think the remnant of influenza microbes must have held a meeting in +my corpus after the lecture, and resolved to reconquer the territory. +But I mean to beat the brutes. + +"I shall be interested," [he writes to Mr. Romanes,] "in the article on +the lecture. The papers have been asinine." This was an article which +Mr. Romanes had told him was about to appear in the "Oxford Magazine". +And on the 30th he writes again.] + +Many thanks for the "Oxford Magazine". The writer of the article is +about the only critic I have met with yet who understands my drift. My +wife says it is a "sensible" article, but her classification is a very +simple one--sensible articles are those that contain praise, "stupid" +those that show insensibility to my merits! + +Really I thought it very sensible, without regard to the plums in the +pudding. + +[But the criticism, "sensible" not merely in the humorous sense, which +he most fully appreciated was that of Professor Seth, in a lecture +entitled "Man and Nature." He wrote to him on October 27:--] + +Dear Professor Seth, + +A report of your lecture on "Man and Nature" has just reached me. +Accept my cordial thanks for defending me, and still more for +understanding me. + +I really have been unable to understand what my critics have been +dreaming of when they raise the objection that the ethical process +being part of the cosmic process cannot be opposed to it. + +They might as well say that artifice does not oppose nature, because it +is part of nature in the broadest sense. + +However, it is one of the conditions of the "Romanes Lecture" that no +allusion shall be made to religion or politics. I had to make my +omelette without breaking any of those eggs, and the task was not easy. + +The prince of scientific expositors, Faraday, was once asked, "How much +may a popular lecturer suppose his audience knows?" He replied +emphatically, "NOTHING." Mine was not exactly a popular audience, but I +ought not to have forgotten Faraday's rule. + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[A letter of congratulation to Lord Farrer on his elevation to the +peerage contains an ironical reference to the general tone of the +criticisms on his lecture:--] + +Hodeslea, June 5, 1893. + +CI DEVANT CITOYEN PETION (autrefois le vertueux), + +You have lost all chance of leading the forces of the County Council to +the attack of the Horse-Guards. + +You will become an emigre, and John Burns will have to content himself +with the heads of the likes of me. As the Jacobins said of Lavoisier, +the Republic has no need of men of science. + +But this prospect need not interfere with sending our hearty +congratulations to Lady Farrer and yourself. + +As for your criticisms, don't you know that I am become a reactionary +and secret friend of the clerics? + +My lecture is really an effort to put the Christian doctrine that Satan +is the Prince of this world upon a scientific foundation. + +Just consider it in this light, and you will understand why I was so +warmly welcomed in Oxford. (N.B.--The only time I spoke before was in +1860, when the great row with Samuel came off!!) + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, July 15, 1893. + +My dear Skelton, + +I fear I must admit that even a Gladstonian paper occasionally tells +the truth. They never mean to, but we all have our lapses from the rule +of life we have laid down for ourselves, and must be charitable. + +The fact is, I got influenza in the spring, and have never managed to +shake right again, any tendency that way being well counteracted by the +Romanes lecture and its accompaniments. + +So we are off to the Maloja to-morrow. It mended up the shaky old +heart-pump five years ago, and I hope will again. + +I have been in Orkney, and believe in the air, but I cannot say quite +so much for the scenery. I thought it just a wee little bit, shall I +say, bare? But then I have a passion for mountains. + +I shall be right glad to know what your H.O.M. [The "Old Man of Hoy," a +pseudonym under which Sir J. Skelton wrote.] has to say about Ethics +and Evolution. You must remember that my lecture was a kind of +egg-dance. Good manners bound me over to say nothing offensive to the +Christians in the amphitheatre (I was in the arena), and truthfulness, +on the other hand, bound me to say nothing that I did not fully mean. +Under these circumstances one has to leave a great many i's undotted +and t's uncrossed. + +Pray remember me very kindly to Mrs. Skelton, and believe me, + +Yours ever, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[And again on October 17:--] + +Ask your Old Man of Hoy to be so good as to suspend judgment until the +Lecture appears again with an appendix in that collection of volumes +the bulk of which appals me. + +Didn't I see somewhere that you had been made Poor Law pope, or +something of the sort? I congratulate the poor more than I do you, for +it must be a weary business trying to mend the irremediable. (No, I am +NOT glancing at the whitewashing of Mary.) + +[Here may be added two later letters bearing in part upon the same +subject:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 23, 1894. + +Dear Sir, + +I ought to have thanked you before now for your letter about +Nietzsche's works, but I have not much working time, and I find +letter-writing a burden, which I am always trying to shirk. + +I will look up Nietzsche, though I must confess that the profit I +obtain from German authors on speculative questions is not usually +great. + +As men of research in positive science they are magnificently laborious +and accurate. But most of them have no notion of style, and seem to +compose their books with a pitchfork. + +There are two very different questions which people fail to +discriminate. One is whether evolution accounts for morality, the other +whether the principle of evolution in general can be adopted as an +ethical principle. + +The first, of course, I advocate, and have constantly insisted upon. +The second I deny, and reject all so-called evolutional ethics based +upon it. + +I am yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Thomas Common, Esq. + +Hodeslea, August 31, 1894. + +Dear Professor Seth, + +I have come to a stop in the issue of my essays for the present, and I +venture to ask your acceptance of the set which I have desired my +publishers to send you. + +I hope that at present you are away somewhere, reading novels or +otherwise idling, in whatever may be your pet fashion. + +But some day I want you to read the "Prolegomena" to the reprinted +Romanes Lecture. + +Lately I have been re-reading Spinoza (much read and little understood +in my youth). + +But that noblest of Jews must have planted no end of germs in my +brains, for I see that what I have to say is in principle what he had +to say, in modern language. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following letters with reference to the long unfinished memoir on +"Spirula" for the "Challenger" reports tell their own story. Huxley was +very glad to find some competent person to finish the work which his +illness had incapacitated him from completing himself. It had been a +burden on his conscience; and now he gladly put all his plates and +experience at the disposal of Professor Pelseneer, though he had +nothing written and would not write anything. He had no wish to claim +even joint authorship for the completed paper; when the question was +first raised, he desired merely that it should be stated that such and +such drawings were made by him; but when Professor Pelseneer insisted +that both names should appear as joint authors, he consented to this +solution of the question.] + +Hodeslea, September 17, 1893. + +Dear Mr. Murray [Now K.C.B. Director of the "Reports of the +'Challenger'."], + +If the plates of Spirula could be turned to account a great burthen +would be taken off my mind. + +Professor Pelseneer is every way competent to do justice to the +subject; and he has just what I needed, namely another specimen to +check and complete the work; and besides that, the physical capacity +for dissection and close observation, of which I have had nothing left +since my long illness. + +Will you be so good as to tell Professor Pelseneer that I shall be glad +to place the plates at his disposal and to give him all the +explanations I can of the drawings, whenever it may suit his +convenience to take up the work? + +Nothing beyond mere fragments remained of the specimen. + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I return Pelseneer's letter. + +Hodeslea, September 30, 1893. + +Dear Professor Pelseneer, + +I send herewith (by this post) a full explanation of the plates of +Spirula (including those of which you have unlettered copies). I trust +you will not be too much embarrassed by my bad handwriting, which is a +plague to myself as well as to other people. + +My hope is that you will be good enough to consider these figures as +materials placed in your hands, to be made useful in the memoir on +Spirula, which I trust you will draw up, supplying the defects of my +work and checking its accuracy. + +You will observe that a great deal remains to be done. The muscular +system is untouched; the structure and nature of the terminal +circumvallate papilla have to be made out; the lingual teeth must be +re-examined; and the characters of the male determined. If I recollect +rightly, Owen published something about the last point. + +If I can be of any service to you in any questions that arise, I shall +be very glad; but as I am putting the trouble of the work on your +shoulders, I wish you to have the credit of it. + +So far as I am concerned, all that is needful is to say that such and +such drawings were made by me. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, October 12, 1893. + +Dear Professor Pelseneer, + +I am very glad to hear from you that the homology of the cephalopod +arms with the gasteropod foot is now generally admitted. When I +advocated that opinion in my memoir on the "Morphology of the Cephalous +Mollusca," some forty years ago, it was thought a great heresy. + +As to publication; I am quite willing to agree to whatever arrangement +you think desirable, so long as you are kind enough to take all trouble +(but that of "consulting physician") off my shoulders. Perhaps putting +both names to the memoir, as you suggest, will be the best way. I +cannot undertake to write anything, but if you think I can be of any +use as an adviser or critic, do not hesitate to demand my services. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Although in February he had stayed several days in town with the +Donnellys, who "take as much care of me as if I were a piece of old +china," and had attended a levee and a meeting of his London University +Association, had listened with interest to a lecture of Professor +Dewar, who "made liquid oxygen by the pint," and dined at Marlborough +House, the influenza had prevented him during the spring from +fulfilling several engagements in London; but after his return from +Oxford he began to recruit in the fine weather, and found delightful +occupation in putting up a rockery in the garden for his pet Alpine +plants. + +In mid June he writes to his wife, then on a visit to one of her +daughters:--] + +What a little goose you are to go having bad dreams about me--who am +like a stalled ox--browsing in idle comfort--in fact, idle is no word +for it. Sloth is the right epithet. I can't get myself to do anything +but potter in the garden, which is looking lovely. + +On June 21 he went to Cambridge for the Harvey Celebration at Gonville +and Caius College, and made a short speech.] + +The dinner last night [he writes] was a long affair, and I was the last +speaker; but I got through my speech very well, and was heard by +everybody, I am told. + +[But as is the way with influenza, it was thrown off in the summer only +to return the next winter, and on the eve of the Royal Society +Anniversary Dinner he writes to Sir M. Foster:--] + +I am in rather a shaky and voiceless condition, and unless I am more up +to the mark to-morrow morning I shall have to forgo the dinner, and, +what is worse, the chat with you afterwards. + +[One consequence of the spring attack of influenza was that this year +he went once more to the Maloja, staying there from July 21 to August +25.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, July 9, 1893. + +My dear Hooker, + +What has happened to the x meeting you proposed? However, it does not +matter much to me now, as Hames, who gave me a thorough overhauling in +London, has packed me off to the Maloja again, and we start, if we can, +on the 17th. + +It is a great nuisance, but the dregs of influenza and the hot weather +between them have brought the weakness of my heart to the front, and I +am gravitating to the condition in which I was five or six years ago. +So I must try the remedy which was so effectual last time. + +We are neither of us very fit, and shall have to be taken charge of by +a courier. Fancy coming to that! + +Let me be a warning to you, my dear old man. Don't go giving lectures +at Oxford and making speeches at Cambridge, and above all things don't, +oh don't go getting influenza, the microbes of which would be seen +under a strong enough microscope to have this form. + +[Sketch of an active little black demon.] + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Though not so strikingly as before, the high Alpine air was again a +wonderful tonic to him. His diary still contains a note of occasional +long walks; and once more he was the centre of a circle of friends, +whose cordial recollections of their pleasant intercourse afterwards +found expression in a lasting memorial. Beside one of his favourite +walks, a narrow pathway skirting the blue lakelet of Sils, was placed a +gray block of granite. The face of this was roughly smoothed, and upon +it was cut the following inscription:-- + +In memory of the illustrious English Writer and Naturalist, Thomas +Henry Huxley, who spent many summers at the Kursaal, Maloja. + +In a letter to Sir J. Hooker, of October 1, he describes the effects of +his trip, and his own surprise at being asked to write a critical +account of Owen's work:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, October 1, 1893. + +My dear Hooker, + +I am no better than a Gadarene swine for not writing to you from the +Maloja, but I was too procrastinatingly lazy to expend even that amount +of energy. I found I could walk as well as ever, but unless I was +walking I was everlastingly seedy, and the wife was unwell almost all +the time. I am inclined to think that it is coming home which is the +most beneficial part of going abroad, for I am remarkably well now, and +my wife is very much better. + +I trust the impaled and injudicious Richard [Sir J. Hooker's youngest +son, who had managed to spike himself on a fence.] is none the worse. +It is wonderful what boys go through (also what goes through them). + +You will get all the volumes of my screeds. I was horrified to find +what a lot of stuff there was--but don't acknowledge them unless the +spirit moves you...I think that on Natural Inequality of Man will be to +your taste. + +Three, or thirty, guesses and you shall not guess what I am about to +tell you. + +Reverend Richard Owen has written to me to ask me to write a concluding +chapter for the biography of his grandfather--containing a "critical" +estimate of him and his work!!! Says he is moved thereto by my speech +at the meeting for a memorial. + +There seemed nothing for me to do but to accept as far as the +scientific work goes. I declined any personal estimate on the ground +that we had met in private society half a dozen times. + +If you don't mind being bothered I should like to send you what I write +and have your opinion about it. + +You see Jowett is going or gone. I am very sorry we were obliged to +give up our annual visit to him this year. But I was quite unable to +stand the exertion, even if Hames had not packed me off. How one's old +friends are dropping! + +Romanes gave me a pitiable account of himself in a letter the other +day. He has had an attack of hemiplegic paralysis, and tells me he is a +mere wreck. That means that the worst anticipations of his case are +being verified. It is lamentable. + +Take care of yourself, my dear old friend, and with our love to you +both, believe me, ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Not long after his return he received a letter from a certain G-- S--, +who wrote from Southampton detailing a number of observations he had +made upon the organisms to be seen with a magnifying glass in an +infusion of vegetable matter, and as "an ignoramus," apologised for any +appearance of conceit in so doing, while asking his advice as to the +best means of improving his scientific knowledge. Huxley was much +struck by the tone of the letter and the description of the +experiments, and he wrote back:--] + +Hodeslea, November 9, 1893. + +Sir, + +We are all "ignoramuses" more or less--and cannot reproach one another. +If there were any sign of conceit in your letter, you would not get +this reply. + +On the contrary, it pleases me. Your observations are quite accurate +and clearly described--and to be accurate in observation and clear in +description is the first step towards good scientific work. + +You are seeing just what the first workers with the microscope saw a +couple of centuries ago. + +Get some such book as Carpenter's "On the Microscope" and you will see +what it all means. + +Are there no science classes in Southampton? There used to be, and I +suppose is, a Hartley Institute. + +If you want to consult books you cannot otherwise obtain, take this to +the librarian, give him my compliments, and say I should be very much +obliged if he would help you. + +I am, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Great was Huxley's astonishment when he learned in reply that his +correspondent was a casual dock labourer, and had but scanty hours of +leisure in which to read and think and seek into the recesses of +nature, while his means of observation consisted of a toy microscope +bought for a shilling at a fair. Casting about for some means of +lending the man a helping hand, he bethought him of the Science and Art +Department, and wrote on December 30 to Sir J. Donnelly:--] + +The Department has feelers all over England--has it any at Southampton? +And if it has, could it find out something about the writer of the +letters I enclose? For a "casual docker" they are remarkable; and I +think when you have read them you will not mind my bothering you with +them. (I really have had the grace to hesitate.) + +I have been puzzled what to do for the man. It is so much easier to do +harm than good by meddling--and yet I don't like to leave him to +"casual docking." + +In that first letter he has got--on his own hook--about as far as +Buffon and Needham 150 years ago. + +And later to Professor Howes:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 12, 1894. + +My dear Howes, + +Best thanks for unearthing the volumes of Milne-Edwards. I was afraid +my set was spoiled. + +I shall be still more obliged to you if you can hear of something for +S--. There is a right good parson in his neighbourhood, and from what +he tells me about S-- I am confirmed in my opinion that he is a very +exceptional man, who ought to be at something better than porter's work +for twelve hours a day. + +The mischief is that one never knows how transplanting a tree, much +less a man, will answer. Playing Providence is a game at which one is +very apt to burn one's fingers. + +However, I am going to try, and hope at any rate to do no harm to the +man I want to help. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[He was eventually offered more congenial occupation at the Natural +History Museum in South Kensington, but preferred not to enter into the +bonds of an unaccustomed office. + +Meanwhile, through Sir John Donnelly, Huxley was placed in +communication with the Reverend Montague Powell, who, at his request, +called upon the docker; and finding him a man who had read and thought +to an astonishing extent upon scientific problems, and had a +considerable acquaintance with English literature, soon took more than +a vicarious interest in him. Mr. Powell, who kept Huxley informed of +his talks and correspondence with G.S., gives a full account of the +circumstances in a letter to the "Spectator" of July 13, 1895, from +which I quote the following words:-- + +The Professor's object in writing was to ask me how best such a man +could be helped, I being at his special request the intermediary. So I +suggested in the meanwhile a microscope and a few scientific books. In +the course of a few days I received a splendid achromatic compound +microscope and some books, which I duly handed over to my friend, +telling him it was from an unknown hand. "Ah," he said, "I know who +that must be; it can be no other than the greatest of living +scientists; it is just like him to help a tyro." + +One small incident of this affair is perhaps worth preserving as an +example of Huxley's love of a bantering repartee. In the midst of the +correspondence Mr. Powell seems suddenly to have been seized by an +uneasy recollection that Huxley had lately received some honour or +title, so he next addressed him as "My dear Sir Thomas." The latter, +not to be outdone, promptly replied with] "My dear Lord Bishop of the +Solent." + +[About the same time comes a letter to Mr. Knowles, based upon a +paragraph from the gossiping column of some newspaper which had come +into Huxley's hands:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 9, 1893. + +Gossip of the Town. + +"Professor Huxley receives 200 guineas for each of his articles for the +'Nineteenth Century'." + +My dear Knowles, + +I have always been satisfied with the "Nineteenth Century" in the +capacity of paymaster, but I did not know how much reason I had for my +satisfaction till I read the above! + +Totting up the number of articles and multiplying by 200 it strikes me +I shall be behaving very handsomely if I take 2000 pounds for the +balance due. + +So sit down quickly, take thy cheque-book, and write five score, and +let me have it at breakfast time to-morrow. I once got a cheque for +1000 pounds at breakfast, and it ruined me morally. I have always been +looking out for another. + +I hope you are all flourishing. We are the better for Maloja, but more +dependent on change of weather and other trifles than could be wished. +Yet I find myself outlasting those who started in life along with me. +Poor Andrew Clark and I were at Haslar together in 1846, and he was the +younger by a year and a half. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +All my time is spent in the co-ordination of my eruptions when I am an +active volcano. + +I hope you got the volumes which I told Macmillan to send you. + +[The following letter to Professor Romanes, whose failing eyesight was +a premonitory symptom of the disease which proved fatal the next year, +reads, so to say, as a solemn prelude to the death of three old friends +this autumn--of Andrew Clark, his old comrade at Haslar, and cheery +physician for many years; of Benjamin Jowett, Master of Balliol, whose +acquaintance he had first made in 1851 at the Stanleys' at Harrow, and +with whom he kept up an intimacy to the end of his life, visiting +Balliol once or twice every year; and, heaviest blow, of John Tyndall, +the friend and comrade whose genial warmth of spirit made him almost +claim a brother's place in early struggles and later success, and whose +sudden death was all the more poignant for the cruel touch of tragedy +in the manner of it.] + +Hodeslea, September 28, 1893. + +My dear Romanes, + +We are very much grieved to hear such a bad account of your health. +Would that we could achieve something more to the purpose than assuring +you and Mrs. Romanes of our hearty sympathy with you both in your +troubles. I assure you, you are much in our thoughts, which are sad +enough with the news of Jowett's, I fear, fatal attack. + +I am almost ashamed to be well and tolerably active when young and old +friends are being thus prostrated. + +However, you have youth on your side, so do not give up, and wearisome +as doing nothing may be, persist in it as the best of medicines. + +At my time of life one should be always ready to stand at attention +when the order to march comes; but for the rest I think it well to go +on doing what I can, as if F. M. General Death had forgotten me. That +must account for my seeming presumption in thinking I may some day +"take up the threads" of late evolutionary speculation. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +My wife joins with me in love and kind wishes to you both. + +[At the request of his friends, Huxley wrote for the "Nineteenth +Century" a brief appreciation of his old comrade Tyndall--the tribute +of a friend to a friend--and, difficult task though it was, touched on +the closing scene, if only from a chivalrous desire to do justice to +the long devotion which accident had so cruelly wronged:--] + +I am comforted [he writes to Sir J. Hooker on January 3] by your liking +the Tyndall article. You are quite right, I shivered over the episode +of the "last words," but it struck me as the best way of getting +justice done to her, so I took a header. I am glad to see by the +newspaper comments that it does not seem to have shocked other people's +sense of decency. + +[The funeral took place on Saturday, December 9. There was no storm nor +fog to make the graveside perilous for the survivors. In the Haslemere +churchyard the winter sun shone its brightest, and the moorland air was +crisp with an almost Alpine freshness as this lover of the mountains +was carried to his last resting-place. But though he took no outward +harm from that bright still morning, Huxley was greatly shaken by the +event]: "I was very much used up," [he writes to Sir M. Foster on his +return home two days later], "to my shame be it said, far more than my +wife"; [and on December 30 to Sir John Donnelly:--] + +Your kind letter deserved better than to have been left all this time +without response, but the fact is, I came to grief the day after +Christmas Day (no, we did NOT indulge in too much champagne). Lost my +voice, and collapsed generally, without any particular reason, so I +went to bed and stayed there as long as I could stand it, and now I am +picking up again. The fact is, I suppose I had been running up a little +account over poor old Tyndall. One does not stand that sort of wear and +tear so well as one gets ancient. + +[On the same day he writes to Sir J.D. Hooker:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 30, 1893. + +My dear Hooker, + +You gave the geographers some uncommonly sane advice. I observe that +the words about the "stupendous ice-clad mountains" you saw were hardly +out of your mouth when -- coolly asserts that the Antarctic continent +is a table-land! "comparatively level country." It really is wrong that +men should be allowed to go about loose who fill you with such a strong +desire to kick them as that little man does. + +I send herewith a spare copy of "Nineteenth" with my paper about +Tyndall. It is not exactly what I could wish, as I was hurried over it, +and knocked up into the bargain, but I have tried to give a fair view +of him. Tell me what you think of it. + +I have been having a day or two on the sick list. Nothing discernible +the matter, only flopped, as I did in the spring. However, I am picking +up again. The fact is, I have never any blood pressure to spare, and a +small thing humbugs the pump. + +However, I have some kicks left in me, vide the preface to the fourth +volume of Essays; ditto Number 5 when that appears in February. + +Now, my dear old friend, take care of yourself in the coming year '94. +I'll stand by you as long as the fates will let me, and you must be +equally "Johnnie." With our love to Lady Hooker and yourself. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + + +CHAPTER 3.13. + +1894. + +[The completion early in 1894 of the ninth volume of "Collected Essays" +was followed by a review of them in "Nature" (February 1), from the pen +of Professor Ray Lankester, emphasising the way in which the writer's +personality appears throughout the writing:-- + +There is probably no lover of apt discourse, of keen criticism, or of +scientific doctrine who will not welcome the issue of Professor +Huxley's "Essays" in the present convenient shape. For my own part, I +know of no writing which by its mere form, even apart from the supreme +interest of the matters with which it mostly deals, gives me so much +pleasure as that of the author of these essays. In his case, more than +that of his contemporaries, it is strictly true that the style is the +man. Some authors we may admire for the consummate skill with which +they transfer to the reader their thought without allowing him, even +for a moment, to be conscious of their personality. In Professor +Huxley's work, on the other hand, we never miss his fascinating +presence; now he is gravely shaking his head, now compressing the lips +with emphasis, and from time to time, with a quiet twinkle of the eye, +making unexpected apologies or protesting that he is of a modest and +peace-loving nature. At the same time, one becomes accustomed to a rare +and delightful phenomenon. Everything which has entered the author's +brain by eye or ear, whether of recondite philosophy, biological fact, +or political programme, comes out again to us--clarified, sifted, +arranged, and vivified by its passage through the logical machine of +his strong individuality. + +Of the artist in him it continues:-- + +He deals with form not only as a mechanical engineer in partibus +(Huxley's own description of himself), but also as an artist, a born +lover of forms, a character which others recognise in him though he +does not himself set it down in his analysis. + +The essay on "Animal Automatism" suggested a reminiscence of Professor +Lankester's as to the way in which it was delivered, and this in turn +led to Huxley's own account of the incident in the letter given in +volume 2. + +About the same time there is a letter acknowledging Mr. Bateson's book +"On Variation", which is interesting as touching on the latter-day +habit of speculation apart from fact which had begun to prevail in +biology:--] + +Hodeslea, February 20, 1894. + +My dear Mr. Bateson, + +I have put off thanking you for the volume "On Variation" which you +have been so good as to send me in the hope that I should be able to +look into it before doing so. + +But as I find that impossible, beyond a hasty glance, at present, I +must content myself with saying how glad I am to see from that glance +that we are getting back from the region of speculation into that of +fact again. + +There have been threatenings of late that the field of battle of +Evolution was being transferred to Nephelococcygia. + +I see you are inclined to advocate the possibility of considerable +"saltus" on the part of Dame Nature in her variations. I always took +the same view, much to Mr. Darwin's disgust, and we used often to +debate it. + +If you should come across my article in the "Westminster" (1860) you +will find a paragraph on that question near the end. I am writing to +Macmillan to send you the volume. + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +By the way, have you ever considered this point, that the variations of +which breeders avail themselves are exactly those which occur when the +previously wild stocks are subjected to exactly the same conditions? + +[The rest of the first half of the year is not eventful. As +illustrating the sort of communications which constantly came to him, I +quote from a letter to Sir J. Donnelly, of January 11:--] + +I had a letter from a fellow yesterday morning who must be a lunatic, +to the effect that he had been reading my essays, thought I was just +the man to spend a month with, and was coming down by the five o'clock +train, attended by his seven children and his MOTHER-IN-LAW! + +Frost being over, there was lots of boiling water ready for him, but he +did not turn up! + +Wife and servants expected nothing less than assassination. + +[Later he notes with dismay an invitation as a Privy Councillor to a +State evening party:--] + +It is at 10.30 P.M., just the time this poor old septuagenarian goes to +bed! + +My swellness is an awful burden, for as it is I am going to dine with +the Prime Minister on Saturday. + +[The banquet with the Prime Minister here alluded to was the occasion +of a brief note of apology to Lord Rosebery for having unintentionally +kept him waiting:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 28, 1894. + +Dear Lord Rosebery, + +I had hoped that my difficulties in dealing with an overtight scabbard +stud, as we sat down to dinner on Saturday had inconvenienced no one +but myself, until it flashed across my mind after I had parted from you +that, as you had observed them, it was only too probable that I had the +misfortune to keep you waiting. + +I have been in a state of permanent blush ever since, and I feel sure +you will forgive me for troubling you with this apology as the only +remedy to which I can look for relief from that unwonted affliction. + +I am, dear Lord Rosebery, yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[All through the spring he had been busy completing the chapter on Sir +Richard Owen's work, which he had been asked to write by the biographer +of his old opponent, and on February 4 tells Sir J.D. Hooker:--] + +I am toiling over my chapter about Owen, and I believe his ghost in +Hades is grinning over my difficulties. + +The thing that strikes me most is, how he and I and all the things we +fought about belong to antiquity. + +It is almost impertinent to trouble the modern world with such +antiquarian business. + +[He sent the manuscript to Sir M. Foster on June 16; the book itself +appeared in December. The chapter in question was restricted to a +review of the immense amount of work, most valuable on its positive +side, done by Owen (compare the letter of January 18, 1893.); and the +review in "Nature" remarks of it that the criticism is "so +straightforward, searching, and honest as to leave nothing further to +be desired." + +Besides this piece of work, he had written early in the year a few +lines on the general character of the nineteenth century, in reply to a +request, addressed to "the most illustrious children of the century," +for their opinion as to what name will be given to it by an impartial +posterity--the century of Comte, of Darwin or Renan, of Edison, +Pasteur, or Gladstone. He replied:--] + +I conceive that the leading characteristic of the nineteenth century +has been the rapid growth of the scientific spirit, the consequent +application of scientific methods of investigation to all the problems +with which the human mind is occupied, and the correlative rejection of +traditional beliefs which have proved their incompetence to bear such +investigation. + +The activity of the scientific spirit has been manifested in every +region of speculation and of practice. + +Many of the eminent men you mention have been its effective organs in +their several departments. + +But the selection of any one of these, whatever his merits, as an +adequate representative of the power and majesty of the scientific +spirit of the age would be a grievous mistake. + +Science reckons many prophets, but there is not even a promise of a +Messiah. + +[The unexampled increase in the expenditure of the European states upon +their armaments led the Arbitration Alliance this year to issue a +memorial urging the Government to co-operate with other Governments in +reducing naval and military burdens. Huxley was asked to sign this +memorial, and replied to the secretary as follows:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, June 21, 1894. + +Dear Sir, + +I have taken some time to consider the memorial to which you have +called my attention, and I regret that I do not find myself able to +sign it. + +Not that I have the slightest doubt about the magnitude of the evils +which accrue from the steady increase of European armaments; but +because I think that this regrettable fact is merely the superficial +expression of social forces, the operation of which cannot be sensibly +affected by agreements between Governments. + +In my opinion it is a delusion to attribute the growth of armaments to +the "exactions of militarism." The "exactions of industrialism," +generated by international commercial competition, may, I believe, +claim a much larger share in prompting that growth. Add to this the +French thirst for revenge, the most just determination of the German +and Italian peoples to assert their national unity; the Russian +Panslavonic fanaticism and desire for free access to the western seas; +the Papacy steadily fishing in the troubled waters for the means of +recovering its lost (I hope for ever lost) temporal possessions and +spiritual supremacy; the "sick man," kept alive only because each of +his doctors is afraid of the other becoming his heir. + +When I think of the intensity of the perturbing agencies which arise +out of these and other conditions of modern European society, I confess +that the attempt to counteract them by asking Governments to agree to a +maximum military expenditure, does not appear to me to be worth making; +indeed I think it might do harm by leading people to suppose that the +desires of Governments are the chief agents in determining whether +peace or war shall obtain in Europe. + +I am, yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Later in the year, on August 8, took place the meeting of the British +Association at Oxford, noteworthy for the presidential address +delivered by Lord Salisbury, Chancellor of the University, in which the +doctrine of evolution was "enunciated as a matter of course--disputed +by no reasonable man,"--although accompanied by a description of the +working of natural selection and variation which appeared to the man of +science a mere travesty of these doctrines. + +Huxley had been persuaded to attend this meeting, the more willingly, +perhaps, since his reception at Oxford the year before suggested that +there would be a special piquancy in the contrast between this and the +last meeting of the Association at Oxford in 1860. He was not +disappointed. Details apart, the cardinal situation was reversed. The +genius of the place had indeed altered. The representatives of the +party, whose prophet had once contemptuously come here to anathematise +the "Origin", returned at length to the same spot to admit--if not +altogether ungrudgingly--the greatness of the work accomplished by +Darwin. + +Once under promise to go, he could not escape without the "few words" +which he now found so tiring; but he took the part which assured him +greatest freedom, as seconder of the vote of thanks to the president +for his address. The study of an advance copy of the address raised an] +"almost overwhelming temptation" [to criticise certain statements +contained in it; but this would have been out of place in seconding a +vote of thanks; and resisting the temptation, he only] "conveyed +criticism," [as he writes to Professor Lewis Campbell], "in the form of +praise": [going so far as to suggest] "it might be that, in listening +to the deeply interesting address of the President, a thought had +occasionally entered his mind how rich and profitable might be the +discussion of that paper in Section D" (Biology). [It was not exactly +an offhand speech. Writing to Sir M. Foster for any good report which +might appear in an Oxford paper, he says:--] + +I have no notes of it. I wrote something on Tuesday night, but this +draft is no good, as it was metamorphosed two or three times over on +Wednesday. + +[One who was present and aware of the whole situation once described +how he marked the eyes of another interested member of the audience, +who knew that Huxley was to speak, but not what he meant to say, +turning anxiously whenever the president reached a critical phrase in +the address, to see how he would take it. But the expression of his +face told nothing; only those who knew him well could infer a +suppressed impatience from a little twitching of his foot. + +Of this occasion Professor Henry F. Osborn, one of his old pupils, +writes in his "Memorial Tribute to Thomas H. Huxley" ("Transactions of +the N.Y. Acad. Society" volume 15):-- + +Huxley's last public appearance was at the meeting of the British +Association at Oxford. He had been very urgently invited to attend, +for, exactly a quarter of a century before, the Association had met at +Oxford, and Huxley had had his famous encounter with Bishop +Wilberforce. It was felt that the anniversary would be an historic one, +and incomplete without his presence, and so it proved to be. Huxley's +especial duty was to second the vote of thanks for the Marquis of +Salisbury's address--one of the invariable formalities of the opening +meetings of the Association. The meeting proved to be the greatest one +in the history of the Association. The Sheldonian Theatre was packed +with one of the most distinguished scientific audiences ever brought +together, and the address of the Marquis was worthy of the occasion. +The whole tenor of it was the unknown in science. Passing from the +unsolved problems of astronomy, chemistry, and physics, he came to +biology. With delicate irony he spoke of the] "COMFORTING WORD, +EVOLUTION," [and passing to the Weismannian controversy, implied that +the diametrically opposed views so frequently expressed nowadays threw +the whole process of evolution into doubt. It was only too evident that +the Marquis himself found no comfort in evolution, and even entertained +a suspicion as to its probability. It was well worth the whole journey +to Oxford to watch Huxley during this portion of the address. In his +red doctor-of-laws gown, placed upon his shoulders by the very body of +men who had once referred to him as "a Mr. Huxley" (This phrase was +actually used by the "Times".), he sank deeper into his chair upon the +very front of the platform and restlessly tapped his foot. His +situation was an unenviable one. He had to thank an ex-Prime Minister +of England and present Chancellor of Oxford University for an address, +the sentiments of which were directly against those he himself had been +maintaining for twenty-five years. He said afterwards that when the +proofs of the Marquis's address were put into his hands the day before, +he realised that he had before him a most delicate and difficult task. +Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson) one of the most distinguished living +physicists, first moved the vote of thanks, but his reception was +nothing to the tremendous applause which greeted Huxley in the heart of +that University whose cardinal principles he had so long been opposing. +Considerable anxiety had been felt by his friends lest his voice should +fail to fill the theatre, for it had signally failed during his Romanes +Lecture delivered in Oxford the year before, but when Huxley arose he +reminded you of a venerable gladiator returning to the arena after +years of absence. He raised his figure and his voice to its full +height, and, with one foot turned over the edge of the step, veiled an +unmistakable and vigorous protest in the most gracious and dignified +speech of thanks. + +Throughout the subsequent special sessions of this meeting Huxley could +not appear. He gave the impression of being aged but not infirm, and no +one realised that he had spoken his last word as champion of the law of +evolution. (See, however, below.) + +Such criticism of the address as he actually expressed reappears in the +leading article, "Past and Present," which he wrote for "Nature" to +celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of its foundation (November 1, +1894). + +The essence of the criticism is that with whatever demonstrations of +hostility to parts of the Darwinian theory Lord Salisbury covered the +retreat of his party from their ancient positions, he admitted the +validity of the main points for which Darwin contended.] + +The essence of this great work (the "Origin of Species") may be stated +summarily thus: it affirms the mutability of species and the descent of +living forms, separated by differences of more than varietal value, +from one stock. That is to say, it propounds the doctrine of evolution +as far as biology is concerned. So far, we have merely a restatement of +a doctrine which, in its most general form, is as old as scientific +speculation. So far, we have the two theses which were declared to be +scientifically absurd and theologically damnable by the Bishop of +Oxford in +1860. + +It is also of these two fundamental doctrines that, at the meeting of +the British Association in 1894, the Chancellor of the University of +Oxford spoke as follows:-- + +"Another lasting and unquestioned effect has resulted from Darwin's +work. He has, as a matter of fact, disposed of the doctrine of the +immutability of species..." + +"Few now are found to doubt that animals separated by differences far +exceeding those that distinguished what we know as species have yet +descended from common ancestors." + +Undoubtedly, every one conversant with the state of biological science +is aware that general opinion has long had good reason for making the +volte face thus indicated. It is also mere justice to Darwin to say +that this "lasting and unquestioned" revolution is, in a very real +sense, his work. And yet it is also true that, if all the conceptions +promulgated in the "Origin of Species" which are peculiarly Darwinian +were swept away, the theory of the evolution of animals and plants +would not be in the slightest degree shaken. + +[The strain of this single effort was considerable] "I am frightfully +tired," [he wrote on August 11,] "but the game was worth the candle." + +[Letters to Sir J.D. Hooker and to Professor Lewis Campbell contain his +own account of the affair. The reference in the latter to the priests +is in reply to Professor Campbell's story of one of Jowett's last +sayings. They had been talking of the collective power of the +priesthood to resist the introduction of new ideas; a long pause +ensued, and the old man seemed to have slipped off into a doze, when he +suddenly broke the silence by saying,] "The priests will always be too +many for you." + +The Spa, Tunbridge Wells, August 12, 1894. + +My dear Hooker, + +I wish, as everybody wished, you had been with us on Wednesday evening +at Oxford when we settled accounts for 1860, and got a receipt in full +from the Chancellor of the University, President of the Association, +and representative of ecclesiastical conservatism and orthodoxy. + +I was officially asked to second the vote of thanks for the address, +and got a copy of it the night before--luckily--for it was a kittle +business... + +It was very queer to sit there and hear the doctrines you and I were +damned for advocating thirty-four years ago at Oxford, enunciated as +matters of course--disputed by no reasonable man!--in the Sheldonian +Theatre by the Chancellor... + +Of course there is not much left of me, and it will take a fortnight's +quiet at Eastbourne (whither we return on Tuesday next) to get right. +But it was a pleasant last flare-up in the socket! + +With our love to you both. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, August 18, 1894. + +My dear Campbell, + +I am setting you a good example. You and I are really too old friends +to go on wasting ink in honorary prefixes. + +I had a very difficult task at Oxford. The old Adam, of course, +prompted the tearing of the address to pieces, which would have been a +very easy job, especially the latter half of it. But as that procedure +would not have harmonised well with the function of a seconder of a +vote of thanks, and as, moreover, Lord S. was very just and good in his +expressions about Darwin, I had to convey criticism in the shape of +praise. + +It was very curious to me to sit there and hear the Chancellor of the +University accept, as a matter of course, the doctrines for which the +Bishop of Oxford coarsely anathematised us thirty-four years earlier. E +pur si muove! + +I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific method is +the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy their +fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in modern +practical life--always growing and increasing--is the guarantee for the +gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower classes, the +former of whom especially are the strength of the priests. + +My wife had a very bad attack of her old enemy some weeks ago, and she +thought she would not be able to go to Oxford. However, she picked up +in the wonderfully elastic way she has, and I believe was less done-up +than I when we left on the Friday morning. I was glad the wife was +there, as the meeting gave me a very kind reception, and it was +probably the last flare-up in the socket. + +The Warden of Merton took great care of us, but it was sad to think of +the vacuity of Balliol. + +Please remember me very kindly to Father Steffens and the Steeles, and +will you tell Herr Walther we are only waiting for a balloon to visit +the hotel again? + +With our affectionate regards to Mrs. Campbell and yourself. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Here also belong several letters of miscellaneous interest. One is to +Mrs. Lewis Campbell at the Maloja.] + +Hodeslea, August 20, 1894. + +My dear Mrs. Campbell, + +What a pity I am not a telepath! I might have answered your inquiry in +the letter I was writing to your husband yesterday. + +The flower I found on the island in Sils Lake was a cross between +Gentiana lutea and Gentiana punctata--nothing new, but interesting in +many ways as a natural hybrid. + +As to baptizing the island, I am not guilty of usurping ecclesiastical +functions to that extent. I have a notion that the island has a name +already, but I cannot recollect it. Walther would know. + +My wife had a bad attack, and we were obliged to give up some visits we +had projected. But she got well enough to go to Oxford with me for a +couple of days, and really stood the racket better than I did. + +At present she is fairly well, and I hope the enemy may give her a long +respite. The Colliers come to us at the end of this month, and that +will do her good. + +With our affectionate regards to you both and remembrances to our +friends. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The first of the following set refers to a lively piece of nonsense +which Huxley wrote just before going to stay with the Romanes' at +Oxford on the occasion of the Romanes Lecture. (See above.) After +Professor Romanes' death, Mrs. Romanes asked leave to print it in the +biography of her husband. In the other letters, Huxley gives his +consent, but, with his usual care for the less experienced, tried to +prevent any malicious perversion of the fun which might put her in a +false position.] + +To Mrs. Romanes. + +Hodeslea, September 20, 1894. + +I do not think I can possibly have any objection to your using my +letter if you think it worth while--but perhaps you had better let me +look at it, for I remember nothing about it--and my letters to people +whom I trust are sometimes more plain-spoken than polite about things +and men. You know at first there was some talk of my possibly supplying +Gladstone's place in case of his failure, and I would not be sure of my +politeness in that quarter! + +Pray do not suppose that your former letter was other than deeply +interesting and touching to me. I had more than half a mind to reply to +it, but hesitated with a man's horror of touching a wound he cannot +heal. + +And then I got a bad bout of "liver," from which I am just picking up. + +Hodeslea, September 22, 1894. + +It's rather a rollicking epistle, I must say, but as my wife (who sends +her love) says she thinks she is the only person who has a right to +complain (and she does not), I do not know why it should not be +published. + +P.S.--I fancy very few people will catch the allusion about not +contradicting me. But perhaps it would be better to take the opinion of +some impartial judge on that point. + +I do not care the least on my own account, but I see my words might be +twisted into meaning that you had told me something about your previous +guest, and that I referred to what you had said. + +Of course you had done nothing of the kind, but as a wary old fox, +experienced sufferer from the dodges of the misrepresenter, I feel +bound not to let you get into any trouble if I can help it. + +A regular lady's P.S. this. + +P.S.--Letter returned herewith. + +To Mr. Leslie Stephen. + +Hodeslea, October 16, 1894. + +My dear Stephen, + +I am very glad you like to have my omnium gatherum, and think the +better of it for gaining me such a pleasant letter of acknowledgment. + +It is a great loss to me to be cut off from all my old friends, but +sticking closely to my hermitage, with fresh air and immense quantities +of rest, have become the conditions of existence for me, and one must +put up with them. + +I have not paid all the debt incurred in my Oxford escapade yet--the +last "little bill" being a sharp attack of lumbago, out of which I hope +I have now emerged. But my deafness alone should bar me from decent +society. I have not the moral courage to avoid making shots at what +people say, so as not to bore them; and the results are sometimes +disastrous. + +I don't see there is any real difference between us. You are charitable +enough to overlook the general immorality of the cosmos on the score of +its having begotten morality in one small part of its domain. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +To Mr. G-- S--. [See above.] + +Hodeslea, October 31, 1894. + +Dear Mr. S--, + +"Liver," "lumbago," and other small ills the flesh is heir to, have +been making me very lazy lately, especially about letter-writing. + +You have got into the depths where the comprehensible ends in the +incomprehensible--where the symbols which may be used with confidence +so far begin to get shaky. + +It does not seem to me absolutely necessary that matter should be +composed of solid particles. The "atoms" may be persistent whirlpools +of a continuous "substance"--which substance, if at rest, could not +affect us (all sensory impression being dependent on motion) and +subsequently would FOR US = 0. The evolution of matter would be the +getting under weigh of this "nothing for us" until it became the +"something for us," the different motions of which give us the mental +states we call the qualities of things. + +But it needs a very steady head to walk safely among these abysses of +thought, and the only use of letting the mind range among them is as a +corrective to the hasty dogmatism of the so-called materialists, who +talk just as glibly of that of which they know nothing as the most +bigoted of the orthodox. + +[Here also stand two letters to Lord Farrer, one before, the other +after, his address at the Statistical Society on the Relations between +Morals, Economics and Statistics, which touch on several philosophical +and social questions, always, to his mind, intimately connected, and +wherein wrong modes of thought indubitably lead to wrong modes of +action. Noteworthy is a defence of the fundamental method of Political +Economy, however much its limitations might be forgotten by some of its +exponents. The reference to the Church agitation to introduce dogmatic +teaching into the elementary schools has also a lasting interest.] + +Hodeslea, November 6, 1894. + +My dear Farrer, + +Whenever you get over the optimism of your youthful constitution (I +wish I were endowed with that blessing) you will see that the Gospels +and I are right about the Devil being "Prince" (note the +distinction--not "king") of the Cosmos. + +The a priori road to scientific, political, and all other doctrine is +H.R.H. Satan's invention--it is the intellectual, broad, and easy path +which leadeth to Jehannum. + +The king's road is the strait path of painful observation and +experiment, and few they be that enter thereon. + +R.G. Latham, queerest of men, had singular flashes of insight now and +then. Forty years ago he gravely told me that the existence of the +Established Church was to his mind one of the best evidences of the +recency of the evolution of the human type from the simian. + +How much there is to confirm this view in present public opinion and +the intellectual character of those who influence it! + +It explains all your difficulties at once, and I regret that I do not +seem to have mentioned it at any of those mid-day symposia which were +so pleasant when you and I were younger. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +P.S.--Apropos of Athelstan Riley and his friends--I fool rather obliged +to them. I assented to the compromise (1) because I felt that English +opinion would not let us have the education of the masses at any +cheaper price; (2) because, with the Bible in lay hands, I was +satisfied that the teaching from it would gradually become modified +into harmony with common sense. + +I do not doubt that this is exactly what has happened, and is the +ground of the alarm of the orthodox. + +But I do not repent of the compromise in the least. Twenty years of +reasonably good primary education is "worth a mass." + +Moreover the Diggleites stand to lose anyhow, and they will lose most +completely and finally if they win at the elections this month. So I am +rather inclined to hope they may. + +Hodeslea, Staveley Road, Eastbourne, November 3, 1894. + +My dear Mr. Clodd, + +They say that the first thing an Englishman does when he is hard up for +money is to abstain from buying books. The first thing I do when I am +liver-y, lumbagy, and generally short of energy, is to abstain from +answering letters. And I am only just emerging from a good many weeks +of that sort of flabbiness and poverty. + +Many thanks for your notice of Kidd's book. Some vile punsters called +it an attempt to put a Kid glove on the iron hand of Nature. I thought +it (I mean the book, not the pun) clever from a literary point of view, +and worthless from any other. You will see that I have been giving Lord +Salisbury a Roland for his Oliver in "Nature". But, as hinted, if we +only had been in Section D! + +With my wife's and my kind regards and remembrances. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Athenaeum Club, December 19, 1894. + +My dear Farrer, + +I am indebted to you for giving the recording angel less trouble than +he might otherwise have had, on account of the worse than usual +unpunctuality of the London and Brighton this morning. For I have +utilised the extra time in reading and thinking over your very +interesting address. + +Thanks for your protest against the mischievous a priori method, which +people will not understand is as gross an anachronism in social matters +as it would be in Hydrostatics. The so-called "Sociology" is +honeycombed with it, and it is hard to say who are worse, the +individualists or the collectivists. But in your just wrath don't +forget that there is such a thing as a science of social life, for +which, if the term had not been so hopelessly degraded, Politics is the +proper name. + +Men are beings of a certain constitution, who, under certain +conditions, will as surely tend to act in certain ways as stones will +tend to fall if you leave them unsupported. The laws of their nature +are as invariable as the laws of gravitation, only the applications to +particular cases offer worse problems than the case of the three bodies. + +The Political Economists have gone the right way to work--the way that +the physical philosopher follows in all complex affairs--by tracing out +the effects of one great cause of human action, the desire of wealth, +supposing it to be unchecked. + +If they, or other people, have forgotten that there are other potent +causes of action which may interfere with this, it is no fault of +scientific method but only their own stupidity. + +Hydrostatics is not a "dismal science," because water does not always +seek the lowest level--e.g. from a bottle turned upside down, if there +is a cork in the neck! + +There is much need that somebody should do for what is vaguely called +"Ethics" just what the Political Economists have done. Settle the +question of what will be done under the unchecked action of certain +motives, and leave the problem of "ought" for subsequent consideration. + +For, whatever they ought to do, it is quite certain the majority of men +will act as if the attainment of certain positive and negative +pleasures were the end of action. + +We want a science of "Eubiotics" to tell us exactly what will happen if +human beings are exclusively actuated by the desire of well-being in +the ordinary sense. Of course the utilitarians have laid the +foundations of such a science, with the result that the nicknamer of +genius called this branch of science "pig philosophy," making just the +same blunder as when he called political economy "dismal science." + +"Moderate well-being" may be no more the worthiest end of life than +wealth. But if it is the best to be had in this queer world--it may be +worth trying for. + +But you will begin to wish the train had been PUNCTUAL! + +Draw comfort from the fact that if error is always with us, it is, at +any rate, remediable. I am more hopeful than when I was young. Perhaps +life (like matrimony, as some say) should begin with a little aversion! + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Some years before this, a fund for a "Darwin Medal" had been +established in memory of the great naturalist, the medal to be awarded +biennially for researches in biology. With singular appropriateness, +the first award was made to Dr. A.R. Wallace, the joint propounder of +the theory of Natural Selection, whose paper, entrusted to Darwin's +literary sponsorship, caused the speedy publication of Darwin's own +long-continued researches and speculations. The second, with equal +appropriateness, was to Sir J.D. Hooker, both as a leader in science +and a helper and adviser of Darwin. + +Huxley's own view of such scientific honours as medals and diplomas was +that they should be employed to stimulate for the future rather than to +reward for the past; and delighted as he was at the poetic justice of +these two awards, this justice once satisfied, he let his opinion be +known that thenceforward the Darwin Medal ought to be given only to +younger men. But when this year he found the Darwin Medal awarded to +himself "for his researches in biology and his long association with +Charles Darwin," he could not but be touched and gratified by this mark +of appreciation from his fellow-workers in science, this association in +one more scientific record with old allies and true friends--to "have +his niche in the Pantheon" next to Hooker and near to Darwin. + +It was a rare instance of the fitness of things that the three men who +had done most to develop and to defend Darwin's ideas should live to +stand first in the list of the Darwin medalists; and Huxley felt this +to be a natural closing of a chapter in his life, a fitting occasion on +which to bid farewell to public life in the world of science. Almost at +the same moment another chapter in science reached its completion in +the "coming of age" of "Nature", a journal which, when scientific +interests at large had grown stronger, had succeeded in realising his +own earlier efforts to found a scientific organ, and with which he had +always been closely associated. + +As mentioned above, he wrote for the November number an introductory +article called "Past and Present," comparing the state of scientific +thought of the day with that of twenty-five years before, when the +journal was first started. To celebrate the occasion, a dinner was to +be held this same month of all who had been associated with "Nature", +and this Huxley meant to attend, as well as the more important +anniversary dinner of the Royal Society on St. Andrew's Day.] + +I have promised [he writes on November 6 to Sir M. Foster] to go to the +"Nature" dinner if I possibly can. Indeed I should be sorry to be away. +As to the Royal Society nothing short of being confined to bed will +stop me. And I shall be good for a few words after dinner. + +Thereafter I hope not to appear again on any stage. + +[His letter about the medal expresses his feelings as to the award.] + +Hodeslea, November 2, 1894. + +My dear Foster, + +Didn't I tell the P.R.S., Secretaries, Treasurer, and all the Fellows +thereof, when I spoke about Hooker years ago, that thenceforth the +Darwin Medal was to be given to the young, and not to useless old +extinct volcanoes? I ought to be very angry with you all for coolly +ignoring my wise counsels. + +But whether it is vanity or something a good deal better, I am not. One +gets chill old age, and it is very pleasant to be warmed up +unexpectedly even against one's injunctions. Moreover, my wife is very +pleased, not to say jubilant; and if I were made Archbishop of +Canterbury I should not be able to convince her that my services to +Theology were hardly of the sort to be rewarded in that fashion. + +I need not say what I think about your action in the matter, my +faithful old friend. With our love to you both. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I suppose you are all right again, as you write from the R.S. Liver +permitting I shall attend meeting and dinner. It is very odd that the +Medal should come along with my pronouncement in "Nature", which I hope +you like. I cut out rather a stinging paragraph at the end. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 11, 1894. + +My dear Donnelly, + +Why on earth did I not answer your letter before? Echo (being Irish) +says, "Because of your infernal bad habit of putting off; which is +growing upon you, you wretched old man." + +Of course I shall be very glad if anything can be done for S--. Howes +has written to me about him since your letter arrived--and I am +positively going to answer his epistle. It's Sunday morning, and I feel +good. + +You will have seen that the R.S. has been giving me the Darwin Medal, +though I gave as broad a hint as was proper the last time I spoke at +the Anniversary, that it ought to go to the young men. Nevertheless, +with ordinary inconsistency of the so-called "rational animal," I am +well pleased. + +I hope you will be at the dinner, and would ask you to be my guest--but +as I thought my boys and boys-in-law would like to be there, I have +already exceeded my lawful powers of invitation, and had to get a +dispensation from Michael Foster. + +I suppose I shall be like a horse that "stands at livery" for some time +after--but it is positively my last appearance on any stage. + +We were very glad to hear from Lady Donnelly that you had had a good +and effectual holiday. With +our love. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +I return Howes' letter in case you want it. I see I need not write to +him again after all. Three cheers! + +Please give Lady Donnelly this. A number of estimable members of her +sex have flown at me for writing what I thought was a highly +complimentary letter. But SHE will be just, I know. + +"The best of women are apt to be a little weak in the great practical +arts of give-and-take, and putting up with a beating, and a little too +strong in their belief in the efficacy of government. Men learn about +these things in the ordinary course of their business; women have no +chance in home life, and the boards and councils will be capital +schools for them. Again, in the public interest it will be well; women +are more naturally economical than men, and have none of our false +shame about looking after pence. Moreover, they don't job for any but +their lovers, husbands, and children, so that we know the worst." + +[The speech at the Royal Society Anniversary dinner--which he evidently +enjoyed making--was a fine piece of speaking, and quite carried away +the audience, whether in the gentle depreciation of his services to +science, or in his profession of faith in the methods of science and +the final triumph of the doctrine of evolution, whatever theories of +its operation might be adopted or discarded in the course of further +investigation. + +I quote from the "Times" report of the speech:--] + +But the most difficult task that remains is that which concerns myself. +It is 43 years ago this day since the Royal Society did me the honour +to award me a Royal medal, and thereby determined my career. But, +having long retired into the position of a veteran, I confess that I +was extremely astonished--I honestly also say that I was extremely +pleased to receive the announcement that you had been good enough to +award to me the Darwin Medal. But you know the Royal Society, like all +things in this world, is subject to criticism. I confess that with the +ingrained instincts of an old official that which arose in my mind +after the reception of the information that I had been thus +distinguished was to start an inquiry which I suppose suggests itself +to every old official--How can my Government be justified? In +reflecting upon what had been my own share in what are now very largely +ancient transactions, it was perfectly obvious to me that I had no such +claims as those of Mr. Wallace. It was perfectly clear to me that I had +no such claims as those of my lifelong friend Sir Joseph Hooker, who +for 25 years placed all his great sources of knowledge, his sagacity, +his industry, at the disposition of his friend Darwin. And really, I +begin to despair of what possible answer could be given to the critics +whom the Royal Society, meeting as it does on November 30, has lately +been very apt to hear about on December 1. Naturally there occurred to +my mind that famous and comfortable line, which I suppose has helped so +many people under like circumstances, "They also serve who only stand +and wait." I am bound to confess that the standing and waiting, so far +as I am concerned, to which I refer, has been of a somewhat peculiar +character. I can only explain it, if you will permit me to narrate a +story which came to me in my old nautical days, and which, I believe, +has just as much foundation as a good deal of other information which I +derived at the same period from the same source. There was a merchant +ship in which a member of the Society of Friends had taken passage, and +that ship was attacked by a pirate, and the captain thereupon put into +the hands of the member of the Society of Friends a pike, and desired +him to take part in the subsequent action, to which, as you may +imagine, the reply was that he would do nothing of the kind; but he +said that he had no objection to stand and wait at the gangway. He did +stand and wait with the pike in his hands, and when the pirates mounted +and showed themselves coming on board he thrust his pike with the sharp +end forward into the persons who were mounting, and he said, "Friend, +keep on board thine own ship." It is in that sense that I venture to +interpret the principle of standing and waiting to which I have +referred. I was convinced as firmly as I have ever been convinced of +anything in my life, that the "Origin of Species" was a ship laden with +a cargo of rich value, and which, if she were permitted to pursue her +course, would reach a veritable scientific Golconda, and I thought it +my duty, however naturally averse I might be to fighting, to bid those +who would disturb her beneficent operations to keep on board their own +ship. If it has pleased the Royal Society to recognise such poor +services as I may have rendered in that capacity, I am very glad, +because I am as much convinced now as I was 34 years ago that the +theory propounded by Mr. Darwin--I mean that which he propounded, not +that which has been reported to be his by too many ill-instructed, both +friends and foes--has never yet been shown to be inconsistent with any +positive observations, and if I may use a phrase which I know has been +objected to, and which I use in a totally different sense from that in +which it was first proposed by its first propounder, I do believe that +on all grounds of pure science it "holds the field," as the only +hypothesis at present before us which has a sound scientific +foundation. It is quite possible that you will apply to me the remark +that has often been applied to persons in such a position as mine, that +we are apt to exaggerate the importance of that to which our lives have +been more or less devoted. But I am sincerely of opinion that the views +which were propounded by Mr. Darwin 34 years ago may be understood +hereafter as constituting an epoch in the intellectual history of the +human race. They will modify the whole system of our thought and +opinion, our most intimate convictions. But I do not know, I do not +think anybody knows, whether the particular views which he held will be +hereafter fortified by the experience of the ages which come after us; +but of this thing I am perfectly certain, that the present course of +things has resulted from the feeling of the smaller men who have +followed him that they are incompetent to bend the bow of Ulysses, and +in consequence many of them are seeking their salvation in mere +speculation. Those who wish to attain to some clear and definite +solution of the great problems which Mr. Darwin was the first person to +set before us in later times must base themselves upon the facts which +are stated in his great work, and, still more, must pursue their +inquiries by the methods of which he was so brilliant an exemplar +throughout the whole of his life. You must have his sagacity, his +untiring search after the knowledge of fact, his readiness always to +give up a preconceived opinion to that which was demonstrably true, +before you can hope to carry his doctrines to their ultimate issue; and +whether the particular form in which he has put them before us may be +such as is finally destined to survive or not is more, I venture to +think, than anybody is capable at this present moment of saying. But +this one thing is perfectly certain--that it is only by pursuing his +methods, by that wonderful single-mindedness, devotion to truth, +readiness to sacrifice all things for the advance of definite +knowledge, that we can hope to come any nearer than we are at present +to the truths which he struggled to attain. + +To Sir J.D. Hooker. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, December 4, 1894. + +My dear old Man, + +See the respect I have for your six years' seniority! I wished you had +been at the dinner, but was glad you were not. Especially as next +morning there was a beastly fog, out of which I bolted home as fast as +possible. + +I shall have to give up these escapades. They knock me up for a week +afterwards. And really it is a pity, just as I have got over my horror +of public speaking, and find it very amusing. But I suppose I should +gravitate into a bore as old fellows do, and so it is as well I am kept +out of temptation. + +I will try to remember what I said at the "Nature" dinner. I scolded +the young fellows pretty sharply for their slovenly writing. [A brief +report of this speech is to be found in the "British Medical Journal" +for December 8, 1894, page 1262.] + +There will be a tenth volume of Essays some day, and an Index rerum. Do +you remember how you scolded me for being too speculative in my maiden +lecture on Animal Individuality forty odd years ago? "On revient +toujours," or, to put it another way, "The dog returns to his etc. etc." + +So I am deep in philosophy, grovelling through Diogenes +Laertius--Plutarch's "Placita" and sich--and often wondering whether +the schoolmasters have any better ground for maintaining that Greek is +a finer language than English than the fact that they can't write the +latter dialect. + +So far as I can see, my faculties are as good (including memory for +anything that is not useful) as they were fifty years ago, but I can't +work long hours, or live out of fresh air. Three days of London bowls +me over. + +I expect you are in much the same case. But you seem to be able to +stoop over specimens in a way impossible to me. It is that incapacity +has made me give up dissection and microscopic work. I do a lot on my +back, and I can tell you that the latter posture is an immense economy +of strength. Indeed, when my heart was troublesome, I used to spend my +time either in active outdoor exercise or horizontally. + +The Stracheys were here the other day, and it was a great pleasure to +us to see them. I think he has had a very close shave with that +accident. There is nobody whom I should more delight to honour--a right +good man all round--but I am not competent to judge of his work. You +are, and I do not see why you should not suggest it. I would give him a +medal for being R. Strachey, but probably the Council would make +difficulties. + +By the way, do you see the "Times" has practically climbed down about +the Royal Society--came down backwards like a bear, growling all the +time? I don't think we shall have any more first of December criticisms. + +Lord help you through all this screed. With our love to you both. + +Ever yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Abram, Abraham became +By will divine; +Let pickled Brian's name +Be changed to Brine! +"Poetae Minores". + +Poor Brian.--Brutal jest! + +[(Sir Joseph's son, Brian, had fallen into a pan of brine.) + +The following was written to a friend who had alluded to his painful +recollection of a former occasion when he was Huxley's guest at the +anniversary dinner of the Royal Society, and was hastily summoned from +it to find his wife dying.] + +I fully understand your feeling about the R.S. Dinner. I have not +forgotten the occasion when you were my guest: still less my brief +sight of you when I called the next day. + +These things are the "lachrymae rerum"--the abysmal griefs hidden under +the current of daily life, and seemingly forgotten, till now and then +they come up to the surface--a flash of agony--like the fish that jumps +in a calm pool. + +One has one's groan and goes to work again. + +If I knew of anything else for it, I would tell you; but all my +experience ends in the questionable thanksgiving, "It's lucky it's no +worse." + +With which bit of practical philosophy, and our love, believe me, ever +yours affectionately, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Before speaking of his last piece of work, in the vain endeavour to +complete which he exposed himself to his old enemy, influenza, I shall +give several letters of miscellaneous interest. + +The first is in reply to Lord Farrer's inquiry as to where he could +obtain a fuller account of the subject tersely discussed in the chapter +he had contributed to the "Life of Owen". ("Which," wrote Lord Farrer, +"is just what I wanted as an outline of the Biological and +Morphological discussion of the last 100 years. But it is 'Pemmican' to +an aged and enfeebled digestion. Is there such a thing as a diluted +solution of it in the shape of any readable book?")] + +Hodeslea, January 26, 1895. + +My dear Farrer, + +Miserable me! Having addressed myself to clear off a heap of letters +that have been accumulating, I find I have not answered an inquiry of +yours of nearly a month's standing. I am sorry to say that I cannot +tell you of any book (readable or otherwise) that will convert my +"pemmican" into decent broth for you. + +There are histories of zoology and of philosophical anatomy, but they +all of them seem to me to miss the point (which you have picked out of +the pemmican). Indeed, that is just why I took such a lot of pains over +these 50 or 60 pages. And I am immensely tickled by the fact that among +all the critical notices I have seen, not a soul sees what I have been +driving at as you have done. I really wish you would write a notice of +it, just to show these Gigadibses (vide Right Reverend Blougram) what +blind buzzards they are! [See Browning's "Bishop Blougram's +Apology":--"Gigadibs the literary man" with his +Abstract intellectual plan of life +Quite irrespective of life's plainest laws.] + +Enter a maid. "Please sir, Mrs. Huxley says she would be glad if you +would go out in the sun." "All right, Allen." Anecdote for your next +essay on Government! + +The fact is, I have been knocked up ever since Tuesday, when our +University Deputation came off; and my good wife (who is laid up +herself) suspects me (not without reason) of failing to take advantage +of a gleam of sunshine. + +By the way, can you help us over the University business? Lord Rosebery +is favourable, and there is absolutely nobody on the other side except +sundry Philistines, who, having got their degrees, are desirous of +inflating their market value. + +Yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The next is in answer to an appeal for a subscription, from the Church +Army.] + +January 26, 1895. + +I regret that I am unable to contribute to the funds of the Church Army. + +I hold it to be my duty to do what I can for the cases of distress of +which I have direct knowledge; and I am glad to be able now and then to +give timely aid to the industrious and worthy people with whom, as a +householder, I am brought into personal relation; and who are so often +engaged in a noiseless and unpitied but earnest struggle to do well. + +In my judgment, a domestic servant, who is perhaps giving half her +wages to support her old parents, is more worthy of help than +half-a-dozen Magdalens. + +Under these circumstances, you will understand that such funds as are +at my disposal are already fully engaged. + +[The following is to a gentleman--an American, I think--who sent him a +long manuscript, an extraordinary farrago of nonsense, to read and +criticise, and help to publish. But as he seemed to have acted in sheer +simplicity, he got an answer:--] + +Hodeslea, January 31, 1895. + +Dear Sir, + +I should have been glad if you had taken the ordinary, and, I think, +convenient course of writing for my permission before you sent the +essay which has reached me, and which I return by this post. I should +then have had the opportunity of telling you that I do not undertake to +read, or take any charge of such matters, and we should both have been +spared some trouble. + +I the more regret this, since being unwilling to return your work +without examination, I have looked at it, and feel bound to give you +the following piece of advice, which I fear may be distasteful, as good +counsel generally is. + +Lock up your essay. For two years--if possible, three--read no popular +expositions of science, but devote yourself to a course of sound +PRACTICAL instruction in elementary physics, chemistry, and biology. + +Then re-read your essay; do with it as you think best; and, if +possible, regard a little more kindly than you are likely to do at +present, yours faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The following passage from a letter to Sir J.D. Hooker refers to a +striking discovery made by Dubois:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 14, 1895. + +The Dutchmen seem to have turned up something like the "missing link" +in Java, according to a paper I have just received from Marsh. I expect +he was a Socratic party, with his hair rather low down on his forehead +and warty cheeks. + +Pithecanthropus erectus Dubois (fossil) + +rather Aino-ish about the body, small in the calf, and cheese-cutting +in the shins. Le voici! + + +CHAPTER 3.14. + +1895. + +Two months of almost continuous frost, during which the thermometer +fell below zero, marked the winter of 1894-95. Tough, if not strong, as +Huxley's constitution was, this exceptional cold, so lowering to the +vitality of age, accentuated the severity of the illness which followed +in the train of influenza, and at last undermined even his powers of +resistance. + +But until the influenza seized him, he was more than usually vigorous +and brilliant. He was fatigued, but not more so than he expected, by +attending a deputation to the Prime Minister in the depth of January, +and delivering a speech on the London University question; and in +February he was induced to write a reply to the attack upon agnosticism +contained in Mr. Arthur Balfour's "Foundations of Belief". Into this he +threw himself with great energy, all the more because the notices in +the daily press were likely to give the reading public a wrong +impression as to its polemic against his own position. Mr. Wilfrid Ward +gives an account of a conversation with him on this subject:-- + +Some one had sent me Mr. A.J. Balfour's book on the "Foundations of +Belief" early in February 1895. We were very full of it, and it was the +theme of discussion on the 17th of February, when two friends were +lunching with us. Not long after luncheon, Huxley came in, and seemed +in extraordinary spirits, he began talking of Erasmus and Luther, +expressing a great preference for Erasmus, who would, he said, have +impregnated the Church with culture, and brought it abreast of the +thought of the times, while Luther concentrated attention on individual +mystical doctrines. "It was very trying for Erasmus to be identified +with Luther, from whom he differed absolutely. A man ought to be ready +to endure persecution for what he does hold; but it is hard to be +persecuted for what you don't hold." I said that I thought his estimate +of Erasmus's attitude towards the Papacy coincided with Professor R.C. +Jebb's. He asked if I could lend him Jebb's Rede Lecture on the +subject. I said that I had not got it at hand, but I added, "I can lend +you another book, which I think you ought to read--Balfour's +'Foundations of Belief'." + +He at once became extremely animated, and spoke of it as those who have +read his criticisms, published in the following month, would expect.] +"You need not lend me that. I have exercised my mind with it a good +deal already. Mr. Balfour ought to have acquainted himself with the +opinions of those he attacks. One has no objection to being abused for +what one DOES hold, as I said of Erasmus; at least, one is prepared to +put up with it. An attack on us by some one who understood our position +would do all of us good--myself included. But Mr. Balfour has acted +like the French in 1870: he has gone to war without any ordnance maps, +and without having surveyed the scene of the campaign. No human being +holds the opinions he speaks of as 'Naturalism.' He is a good debater. +He knows the value of a word. The word 'Naturalism' has a bad sound and +unpleasant associations. It would tell against us in the House of +Commons, and so it will with his readers. 'Naturalism' contrasts with +'supernaturalism.' He has not only attacked us for what we don't hold, +but he has been good enough to draw out a catechism for 'us wicked +people,' to teach us what we MUST hold." + +[It was rather difficult to get him to particulars, but we did so by +degrees. He said], "Balfour uses the word phenomena as applying simply +to the outer world and not to the inner world. The only people his +attack would hold good of would be the Comtists, who deny that +psychology is a science. They may be left out of account. They advocate +the crudest eighteenth-century materialism. All the empiricists, from +Locke onwards, make the observation of the phenomena of the mind itself +quite separate from the study of mere sensation. No man in his senses +supposes that the sense of beauty, or the religious feelings [this with +a courteous bow to a priest who was present], or the sense of moral +obligation, are to be accounted for in terms of sensation, or come to +us through sensation." [I said that, as I understood it, I did not +think Mr. Balfour supposed they would acknowledge the position he +ascribed to them, and that one of his complaints was that they did not +work out their premises to their logical conclusions. I added that so +far as one of Mr. Balfour's chief points was concerned--the existence +of the external world--Mill was almost the only man on their side in +this century who had faced the problem frankly, and he had been driven +to say that all men can know is that there are "permanent possibilities +of sensation." He did not seem inclined to pursue the question of an +external world, but said that though Mill's "Logic" was very good, +empiricists were not bound by all his theories. + +He characterised the book as a very good and even brilliant piece of +work from a literary point of view; but as a helpful contribution to +the great controversy, the most disappointing he had ever read. I said, +"There has been no adverse criticism of it yet." He answered with +emphasis], "No! BUT THERE SOON WILL BE." ["From you?" I asked.] "I let +out no secrets," [was the reply. + +He then talked with great admiration and affection of Mr. Balfour's +brother, Francis. His early death, and W.K. Clifford's (Huxley said), +had been the greatest loss to science--not only in England, but in the +world--in our time.] "Half a dozen of us old fogies could have been +better spared." [He remembered Frank Balfour as a boy at [Harrow] and +saw his unusual talent there.] "Then my friend, Michael Foster, took +him up at Cambridge, and found out that he had real genius for biology. +I used to say there was science in the blood, but this new book of his +brother's," [he added, smiling], "shows I was wrong." + +Apropos to his remark about the Comtists, one of the company pointed +out that in later life Comte recognised a science of "the individual," +equivalent to what Huxley meant by psychology.] "That," [he replied], +"was due to the influence of Clotilde de Vaux. You see," [he added, +with a kind of Sir Charles Grandison bow to my wife], "what power your +sex may have." [As Huxley was going out of the house, I said to him +that Father A.B. (the priest who had been present) had not expected to +find himself in his company.] "No! I trust he had plenty of holy water +with him," [was the reply. + +...After he had gone, we were all agreed as to the extraordinary vigour +and brilliancy he had shown. Some one said, "He is like a man who is +what the Scotch call 'fey.'" We laughed at the idea, but we naturally +recalled the remark later on. + +The story of how the article was written is told in the following +letters. It was suggested by Mr. Knowles, and undertaken after perusal +of the review of the book in the "Times". Huxley intended to have the +article ready for the March number of the "Nineteenth Century", but it +grew longer than he had meant it to be, and partly for this reason, +partly for fear lest the influenza, then raging at Eastbourne, might +prevent him from revising the whole thing at once, he divided it into +two instalments. He writes to one daughter on March 1:--] + +I suppose my time will come; so I am "making hay while the sun shines" +(in point of fact it is raining and blowing a gale outside) and +finishing my counterblast to Balfour before it does come. + +Love to all you poor past snivellers from an expectant sniveller. + +[And to another:--] + +I think the cavalry charge in this month's "Nineteenth" will amuse you. +The heavy artillery and the bayonets will be brought into play next +month. + +Dean Stanley told me he thought being made a bishop destroyed a man's +moral courage. I am inclined to think that the practice of the methods +of political leaders destroys their intellect for all serious purposes. + +No sooner was the first part safely sent off than the contingency he +had feared came to pass; only, instead of the influenza meaning +incapacity for a fortnight, an unlucky chill brought on bronchitis and +severe lung trouble. (As he wrote on February 28 to Sir M. Foster]: "If +I could compound for a few hours' neuralgia, I would not mind; but +those long weeks of debility make me very shy of the influenza demon. +Here we are practically isolated...I once asked Gordon why he didn't +have the African fever. 'Well,' he said, you see, fellows think they +shall have it, and they do. I didn't think so, and didn't get it.' +Exercise your thinking faculty to that extent.") The second part of the +article was never fully revised for press.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 8, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +Your telegram came before I had looked at to-day's "Times" and the +article on Balfour's book, so I answered with hesitation. + +Now I am inclined to think that the job may be well worth doing, in +that it will give me the opportunity of emphasising the distinction +between the view I hold and Spencer's, and perhaps of proving that +Balfour is an agnostic after my own heart. So please send the book. + +Only if this infernal weather, which shrivels me up soul and body, +lasts, I do not know how long I may be over the business. However, you +tell me to take my own time. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 18, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +I send you by this post an instalment (the larger moiety) of my +article, which I should be glad to have set up at once IN SLIP, and +sent to me as speedily as may be. The rest shall follow in the course +of the next two or three days. + +I am rather pleased with the thing myself, so it is probably not so +very good! But you will judge for yourself. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 19, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +We send our best congratulations to Mrs. Knowles and yourself on the +birth of a grand-daughter. I forget whether you have had any previous +experience of the "Art d'etre Grandpere" or not--but I can assure you, +from 14 such experiences, that it is easy and pleasant of acquirement, +and that the objects of it are veritable "articles de luxe," involving +much amusement and no sort of responsibility on the part of the +possessor. + +You shall have the rest of my screed by to-morrow's post. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 20, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +Seven mortal hours have I been hard at work this day to try to keep my +promise to you, and as I find that impossible, I have struck work and +will see Balfour and his "Foundations", and even that ark of literature +the "Nineteenth", at Ballywack, before I do any more. + +But the whole affair shall be sent by a morning's post to-morrow. I +have the proofs. I have found the thing getting too long for one paper, +and requiring far more care than I could put into the next two days--so +I propose to divide it, if you see no objection. + +And there is another reason for this course. Influenza is raging here. +I hear of hundreds of cases, and if it comes my way, as it did before, +I go to bed and stop there--"the world forgetting and by the world +forgot"--until I am killed or cured. So you would not get your article. + +As it stands, it is not a bad gambit. We will play the rest of the game +afterwards, D.V. and K.V. + +Hope mother and baby are doing well. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, February 23, 1895, 12.30 P.M. + +My dear Knowles, + +I have just played and won as hard a match against time as I ever knew +in the days of my youth. The proofs, happily, arrived by the first +post, so I got to work at them before 9, polished them off by 12, and +put them into the post (myself) by 12.5. So you ought to have them by 6 +P.M. And, to make your mind easy, I have just telegraphed to you to say +so. But, Lord's sake! let some careful eye run over the part of which I +have had no revise--for I am "capable de tout" in the way of +overlooking errors. + +I am very glad you like the thing. The second instalment shall be no +worse. + +I grieve to say that my estimation of Balfour, as a thinker, sinks +lower and lower, the further I go. + +God help the people who think his book an important contribution to +thought! The Gigadibsians who say so are past divine assistance! + +We are very glad to hear the grandchild and mother are getting on so +well. + +Ever yours very truly, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 8, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +The proofs have just arrived, but I am sorry to say that (I believe for +the first time in our transactions) I shall have to disappoint you. + +Just after I had sent off the manuscript influenza came down upon me +with a swoop. I went to bed and am there still, with no chance of +quitting it in a hurry. My wife is in the same case; item one of the +maids. The house is a hospital, and by great good fortune we have a +capital nurse. + +Doctor says its a mild type, in which case I wonder what severe types +may be like. ("But in the matter of aches and pains, restless +paroxysms of coughing and general incapacity, I can give it a high +character for efficiency." [To M. Foster, March 7.]) I find coughing +continuously for fourteen hours or so a queer kind of mildness. + +Could you put in an excuse on account of influenza? + +Can't write any more. + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, March 19, 1895. + +My dear Knowles, + +I am making use of the pen of my dear daughter and good nurse, in the +first place to thank you for your cheque, in the second place to say +that you must not look for the article this month. I haven't been out +of bed since the 1st, but they are fighting a battle with bronchitis +over my body. + +Ever yours very faithfully, + +For T.H.H., Sophy Huxley. + +[The next four months were a period of painful struggle against +disease, borne with a patience and gentleness which was rare even in +the long experience of the trained nurses who tended him. To natural +toughness of constitution he added a power of will unbroken by the long +strain; and for the sake of others to whom his life meant so much, he +wished to recover and willed to do everything towards recovery. And so +he managed to throw off the influenza and the severe bronchitis which +attended it. What was marvellous at his age, and indeed would scarcely +have been expected in a young man, most serious mischief induced by the +bronchitis disappeared. By May he was strong enough to walk from the +terrace to the lawn and his beloved saxifrages, and to remount the +steps to the house without help. + +But though the original attack was successfully thrown off, the lung +trouble had affected the heart; and in his weakened state, renal +mischief ensued. Yet he held out splendidly, never giving in, save for +one hour of utter prostration, all through this weary length of +sickness. His first recovery strengthened him in expecting to get well +from the second attack. And on June 10 he writes brightly enough to Sir +J.D. Hooker:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, June 10, 1895. + +My dear Old Friend, + +It was cheering to get your letter and to hear that you had got through +winter and diphtheria without scathe. + +I can't say very much for myself yet, but I am carried down to a tent +in the garden every day, and live in the fresh air all I can. The thing +that keeps me back is an irritability of the stomach tending to the +rejection of all solid food. However, I think I am slowly getting the +better of it--thanks to my constitutional toughness and careful nursing +and dieting. + +What has Spencer been trampling on the "Pour le merite" for, when he +accepted the Lyncei? I was just writing to congratulate him when, by +good luck, I saw he had refused! + +The beastly nausea which comes on when I try to do anything warns me to +stop. + +With our love to you both, + +Ever yours, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[The last time I saw him was on a visit to Eastbourne from June 22-24. +I was astonished to find how well he looked in spite of all; thin, +indeed, but browned with the endless sunshine of the 1895 summer as he +sat every day in the verandah. His voice was still fairly strong; he +was delighted to see us about him, and was cheerful, even merry at +times. As the nurse said, she could not expect him to recover, but he +did not look like a dying man. When I asked him how he was, he said, "A +mere carcass, which has to be tended by other people." But to the last +he looked forward to recovery. One day he told the nurse that the +doctors must be wrong about the renal mischief, for if they were right, +he ought already to be in a state of coma. This was precisely what they +found most astonishing in his case; it seemed as if the mind, the +strong nervous organisation, were triumphing over the shattered body. +Herein lay one of the chief hopes of ultimate recovery. + +As late as June 26 he wrote, with shaky handwriting but indomitable +spirit, to relieve his old friend from the anxiety he must feel from +the newspaper bulletins.] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, June 26, 1895. + +My dear Hooker, + +The pessimistic reports of my condition which have got into the papers +may be giving you unnecessary alarm for the condition of your old +comrade. So I send a line to tell you the exact state of affairs. + +There is kidney mischief going on--and it is accompanied by very +distressing attacks of nausea and vomiting, which sometimes last for +hours and make life a burden. + +However, strength keeps up very well considering, and of course all +depends upon how the renal business goes. At present I don't feel at +all like "sending in my checks," and without being over sanguine I +rather incline to think that my native toughness will get the best of +it--albuminuria or otherwise. + +Ever your faithful friend, + +T.H.H. + +Misfortunes never come single. My son-in-law, Eckersley, died of yellow +fever the other day at San Salvador--just as he was going to take up an +appointment at Lima worth 1200 pounds a year. Rachel and her three +children have but the slenderest provision. + +[The next two days there was a slight improvement but on the third +morning the heart began to fail. The great pain subdued by +anaesthetics, he lingered on about seven hours, and at half-past three +on June 29 passed away very quietly. + +He was buried at Finchley, on July 4, beside his brother George and his +little son Noel, under the shadow of the oak, which had grown up into a +stately young tree from the little sapling it had been when the grave +of his first-born was dug beneath it, five and thirty years before. + +The funeral was of a private character. An old friend, the Reverend +Llewelyn Davies, came from Kirkby Lonsdale to read the service; the +many friends who gathered at the grave-side were there as friends +mourning the death of a friend, and all touched with the same sense of +personal loss. + +By his special direction, three lines from a poem written by his wife, +were inscribed upon his tombstone--lines inspired by his own robust +conviction that, all question of the future apart, this life as it can +be lived, pain, sorrow, and evil notwithstanding, is worth--and well +worth-living:-- + +Be not afraid, ye waiting hearts that weep; +For still He giveth His beloved sleep, +And if an endless sleep He wills, so best.] + + +CHAPTER 3.15. + +He had intellect to comprehend his highest duty distinctly, and force +of character to do it; which of us dare ask for a higher summary of his +life than that? + +[Such was Huxley's epitaph upon Henslow; it was the standard which he +endeavoured to reach in his own life. It is the expression of that +passion for veracity which was perhaps his strongest characteristic; an +uncompromising passion for truth in thought, which would admit no +particle of self-deception, no assertion beyond what could be verified; +for truth in act, perfect straightforwardness and sincerity, with +complete disregard of personal consequences for uttering unpalatable +fact. + +Truthfulness, in his eyes, was the cardinal virtue, without which no +stable society can exist. Conviction, sincerity, he always respected, +whether on his own side or against him. Clever men, he would say, are +as common as blackberries; the rare thing is to find a good one. The +lie from interested motives was only more hateful to him than the lie +from self-delusion or foggy thinking. With this he classed the "sin of +faith," as he called it; that form of credence which does not fulfil +the duty of making a right use of reason; which prostitutes reason by +giving assent to propositions which are neither self-evident nor +adequately proved. + +This principle has always been far from finding universal acceptance. +One of his theological opponents went so far as to affirm that a +doctrine may be not only held, but dogmatically insisted on, by a +teacher who is, all the time, fully aware that science may ultimately +prove it to be quite untenable. + +His own course went to the opposite extreme. In teaching, where it was +possible to let the facts speak for themselves, he did not further urge +their bearing upon wider problems. He preferred to warn beginners +against drawing superficial inferences in favour of his own general +theories, from facts the real meaning of which was not immediately +apparent. Father Hahn (S.J.), who studied under him in 1876, writes:-- + +One day when I was talking to him, our conversation turned upon +evolution. "There is one thing about you I cannot understand," I said, +"and I should like a word in explanation. For several months now I have +been attending your course, and I have never heard you mention +evolution, while in your public lectures everywhere you openly proclaim +yourself an evolutionist." ("Revue des Questions Scientifiques" +(Brussels), for October 1895.) + +Now it would be impossible to imagine a better opportunity for +insisting on evolution than his lectures on comparative anatomy, when +animals are set side by side in respect of the gradual development of +functions. But Huxley was so reserved on this subject in his lectures +that, speaking one day of a species forming a transition between two +others, he immediately added:--] + +"When I speak of transition I do not in the least mean to say that one +species turned into a second to develop thereafter into a third. What I +mean is, that the characters of the second are intermediate between +those of the two others. It is as if I were to say that such a +Cathedral, Canterbury, for example, is a transition between York +Minster and Westminster Abbey. No one would imagine, on hearing the +word transition, that a transmutation of these buildings actually took +place from one into other." [(Doubtless in connection with the familiar +warning that intermediate types are not necessarily links in the direct +line of descent.) + +But to return to his reply:--] + +"Here in my teaching lectures [he said to me] I have time to put the +facts fully before a trained audience. In my public lectures I am +obliged to pass rapidly over the facts, and I put forward my personal +convictions. And it is for this that people come to hear me." + +[As to the question whether children should be brought up in entire +disregard to the beliefs rejected by himself, but still current among +the mass of his fellow-countrymen, he was of opinion that they ought to +know] "the mythology of their time and country," [otherwise one would +at the best tend to make young prigs of them; but as they grew up their +questions should be answered frankly. (The wording of a paragraph in +Professor Mivart's "Reminiscences" ("Nineteenth Century", December +1897, P. 993), tends, I think, to leave a wrong impression on this +point.) + +The natural tendency to veracity, strengthened by the observation of +the opposite quality in one with whom he was early brought into +contact, received its decisive impulse, as has been told before, from +Carlyle, whose writings confirmed and established his youthful reader +in a hatred of shams and make-believes equal to his own. + +In his mind no compromise was possible between truth and untruth. (As +he once said, when urged to write a more eulogistic notice of a dead +friend than he thought deserved], "The only serious temptations to +perjury I have ever known have arisen out of the desire to be of some +comfort to people I cared for in trouble. If there are such things as +Plato's 'Royal Lies' they are surely those which one is tempted to tell +on such occasions. Mrs. -- is such a good devoted little woman, and I +am so doubtful about having a soul, that it seems absurd to hesitate to +peril it for her satisfaction.") [Against authorities and influences he +published "Man's Place in Nature," though warned by his friends that to +do so meant ruin to his prospects. When he had once led the way and +challenged the upholders of conventional orthodoxy, others backed him +up with a whole armoury of facts. But his fight was as far as possible +for the truth itself, for fact, not merely for controversial victory or +personal triumph. Yet, as has been said by a representative of a very +different school of thought, who can wonder that he should have hit out +straight from the shoulder, in reply to violent or insidious attacks, +the stupidity of which sometimes merited scorn as well as anger? + +In his theological controversies he was no less careful to avoid any +approach to mere abuse or ribaldry such as some opponents of Christian +dogma indulged in. For this reason he refused to interpose in the +well-known Foote case. Discussion, he said, could be carried on +effectually without deliberate wounding of others' feelings. + +As he wrote in reply to an appeal for help in this case (March 12, +1883):--] + +I have not read the writings for which Mr. Foote was prosecuted. But, +unless their nature has been grossly misrepresented, I cannot say that +I feel disposed to intervene on his behalf. + +I am ready to go great lengths in defence of freedom of discussion, but +I decline to admit that rightful freedom is attacked, when a man is +prevented from coarsely and brutally insulting his neighbours' honest +beliefs. + +I would rather make an effort to get legal penalties inflicted with +equal rigour on some of the anti-scientific blasphemers--who are quite +as coarse and unmannerly in their attacks on opinions worthy of all +respect as Mr. Foote can possibly have been. + +[The grand result of his determination not to compromise where truth +was concerned, was the securing freedom of thought and speech. One man +after another, looking back on his work, declares that if we can say +what we think now, it is because he fought the battle of freedom. Not +indeed the battle of toleration, if toleration means toleration of +error for its own sake. Error, he thought, ought to be extirpated by +all legitimate means, and not assisted because it is conscientiously +held. + +As Lord Hobhouse wrote, soon after his death:-- + +I see now many laudatory notices of him in papers. But I have not seen, +and I think the younger men do not know, that which (apart from +science) I should put forward as his strongest claim to reverence and +gratitude; and that is the steadfast courage and consummate ability +with which he fought the battle of intellectual freedom, and insisted +that people should be allowed to speak their honest convictions without +being oppressed or slandered by the orthodox. He was one of those, +perhaps the very foremost, who won that priceless freedom for us; and, +as is too common, people enter into the labours of the brave, and do +not even know what their elders endured, or what has been done for +themselves. + +With this went a proud independence of spirit, intolerant of patronage, +careless of titular honours, indifferent to the accumulation of worldly +wealth. He cared little even for recognition of his work. "If I had 400 +pounds a year" [A sum which might have supported a bachelor, but was +entirely inadequate to the needs of a large family.], he exclaimed at +the outset of his career, "I should be content to work anonymously for +the advancement of science." The only recognition he considered worth +having, was that of the scientific world; yet so little did he seek it, +so little insist on questions of priority, that, as Professor Howes +tells me, there are at South Kensington among the mass of unpublished +drawings from dissections made by him, many which show that he had +arrived at discoveries which afterwards brought credit to other +investigators. + +He was as ready to disclaim for himself any merits which really +belonged to his predecessors, whether philosophical or scientific. He +was too well read in their works not to be aware of the debt owed them +by his own generation, and he reminded the world how little the +scientific insight of Goethe, for instance, or the solid labours of +Buffon or Reaumur or Lamarck, deserved oblivion. + +The only point on which he did claim recognition was the honesty of his +motives. He was incapable of doing anything underhand, and he could not +bear even the appearance of such conduct towards his friends, or those +with whom he had business relations. In such cases he always took the +bull by the horns, acknowledged an oversight or explained what was +capable of misunderstanding. The choice between Edward Forbes and +Hooker for the Royal Society's medal, or the explanations to Mr. +Spencer for not joining a social reform league of which the latter was +a prominent member, will serve as instances.] + +The most considerable difference I note among men [he wrote], is not in +their readiness to fall into error, but in their readiness to +acknowledge these inevitable lapses. + +[For himself, he let no personal feelings stand in the way when fact +negatived his theories: once convinced that they were untenable, he +gave up Bathybius and the European origin of the Horse without +hesitation. + +The regard in which he was held by his friends was such that he was +sometimes appealed to by both parties in a dispute. He was a man to be +trusted with the confidence of his friends.] "Yes, you are quite right +about 'loyal,'" [he writes to Mr. Knowles], "I love my friends and hate +my enemies--which may not be in accordance with the Gospel, but I have +found it a good wearing creed for honest men." [But he only regarded as +"enemies" those whom he found to be double-dealers, shufflers, +insincere, untrustworthy; a fair opponent he respected, and he could +agree to differ with a friend without altering his friendship. + +A lifelong impression of him was thus summed up by Dr. A.R. Wallace:-- + +I find that he was my junior by two years, yet he has always seemed to +me to be the older, mainly no doubt, because from the very first time I +saw him (now more than forty years ago), I recognised his vast +superiority in ability, in knowledge, and in all those qualities that +enable a man to take a foremost place in the world. I owe him thanks +for much kindness and for assistance always cordially given, and +although we had many differences of opinion, I never received from him +a harsh or unkind word. + +To those who could only judge him from his controversial literature, or +from a formal business meeting, he often appeared hard and +unsympathetic, but never to those who saw beneath the surface. In +personal intercourse, if he disliked a man--and a strong individuality +has strong likes and dislikes--he would merely veil his feelings under +a superabundant politeness of the chilliest kind; but to any one +admitted to his friendship he was sympathy itself. And thus, although I +have heard him say that his friends, in the fullest sense of the word, +could be reckoned on the fingers of one hand, the impression he made +upon all who came within the circle of his friendship was such that +quite a number felt themselves to possess his intimacy, and one wrote, +after his death: "His many private friends are almost tempted to forget +the public loss, in thinking of the qualities which so endeared him to +them all." + +Both the speculative and the practical sides of his intellect were +strongly developed. On the one hand, he had an intense love of +knowledge, the desire to attain true knowledge of facts, and to +organise them in their true relations. His contributions to pure +science never fail to illustrate both these tendencies. His earlier +researches brought to light new facts in animal life, and new ideas as +to the affinities of the creatures he studied; his later investigations +were coloured by Darwin's views, and in return contributed no little +direct evidence in favour of evolution. But while the progress of the +evolution theory in England owed more to his clear and unwearied +exposition than to any other cause, while from the first he had +indicated the points, such as the causes of sterility and variation, +which must be cleared up by further investigation in order to complete +the Darwinian theory, he did not add another to the many speculations +since put forward. + +On the other hand, intense as was his love of pure knowledge, it was +balanced by his unceasing desire to apply that knowledge in the +guidance of life. Always feeling that science was not solely for the +men of science, but for the people, his constant object was to help the +struggling world to ideas which should help them to think truly and so +to live rightly. It is still true, he declared, that the people perish +for want of knowledge. "If I am to be remembered at all," he writes +(see volume 2), "I should like to be remembered as one who did his best +to help the people." And again, he says in his Autobiographical Sketch, +that other marks of success were as nothing if he could hope that he +"had somewhat helped that movement of opinion which has been called the +New Reformation." + +This kind of aim in his work, of taking up the most fruitful idea of +his time and bringing it home to all, is typified by his remark as he +entered New York harbour on his visit to America in 1876, and watched +the tugs hard at work as they traversed the bay.] "If I were not a +man," [he said], "I think I should like to be a tug." + +[Two incidents may be cited to show that he did not entirely fail of +appreciation among those whom he tried to help. Speaking of the year +1874, Professor Mivart writes ("Reminiscences of T.H. Huxley," +"Nineteenth Century", December 1897.) + +I recollect going with him and Mr. John Westlake, Q.C., to a meeting of +artisans in the Blackfriars Road, to whom he gave a friendly address. +He felt a strong interest in working-men, and was much beloved by them. +On one occasion, having taken a cab home, on his arrival there, when he +held out his fare to the cabman, the latter replied, "Oh no, Professor, +I have had too much pleasure and profit from hearing you lecture to +take any money from your pocket--proud to have driven you, sir!" + +The other is from a letter to the "Pall Mall Gazette" of September 20, +1892, from Mr. Raymond Blaythwayt, on "The Uses of Sentiment":-- + +Only to-day I had a most striking instance of sentiment come beneath my +notice. I was about to enter my house, when a plain, simply-dressed +working-man came up to me with a note in his hand, and touching his +hat, he said, "I think this is for you, sir," and then he added, "Will +you give me the envelope, sir, as a great favour?" I looked at it, and +seeing it bore the signature of Professor Huxley, I replied, "Certainly +I will; but why do you ask for it?" "Well," said he, "it's got +Professor Huxley's signature, and it will be something for me to show +my mates and keep for my children. He have done me and my like a lot of +good; no man more." + +In practical administration, his judgment of men, his rapid perception +of the essential points at issue, his observance of the necessary +limits of official forms, combined with the greatest possible +elasticity within these limits, made him extremely successful. + +As Professor (writes the late Professor Jeffery Parker), Huxley's rule +was characterised by what is undoubtedly the best policy for the head +of a department. To a new subordinate, "The General," as he was always +called, was rather stern and exacting, but when once he was convinced +that his man was to be trusted, he practically let him take his own +course; never interfered in matters of detail, accepted suggestions +with the greatest courtesy and good humour, and was always ready with a +kindly and humorous word of encouragement in times of difficulty. I was +once grumbling to him about how hard it was to carry on the work of the +laboratory through a long series of November fogs, "when neither sun +nor stars in many days appeared."] "Never mind, Parker," [he said, +instantly capping my quotation], "cast four anchors out of the stern +and wish for day." + +[Nothing, indeed, better illustrates this willingness to listen to +suggested improvements than the inversion of the order of studies in +the biological course which he inaugurated in 1872, namely, the +substitution of the anatomy of a vertebrate for the microscopic +examination of a unicellular organism as the opening study. This was +entirely Parker's doing. "As one privileged at the time to play a minor +part," writes Professor Howes ("Nature" January 6, 1898 page 228), "I +well recall the determination in Parker's mind that the change was +desirable, and in Huxley's, that it was not. Again and again did Parker +appeal in vain, until at last, on the morning of October 2, 1878, he +triumphed." + +On his students he made a deep and lasting impression. + +His lectures (writes Jeffery Parker) were like his writings, luminously +clear, without the faintest disposition to descend to the level of his +audience; eloquent, but with no trace of the empty rhetoric which so +often does duty for that quality; full of a high seriousness, but with +no suspicion of pedantry; lightened by an occasional epigram or flashes +of caustic humour, but with none of the small jocularity in which it is +such a temptation to a lecturer to indulge. As one listened to him one +felt that comparative anatomy was indeed worthy of the devotion of a +life, and that to solve a morphological problem was as fine a thing as +to win a battle. He was an admirable draughtsman, and his blackboard +illustrations were always a great feature of his lectures, especially +when, to show the relation of two animal types, he would, by a few +rapid strokes and smudges, evolve the one into the other before our +eyes. He seemed to have a real affection for some of the specimens +illustrating his lectures, and would handle them in a peculiarly loving +manner; when he was lecturing on man, for instance, he would sometimes +throw his arm over the shoulder of the skeleton beside him and take its +hand, as if its silent companionship were an inspiration. To me his +lectures before his small class at Jermyn Street or South Kensington +were almost more impressive than the discourses at the Royal +Institution, where for an hour and a half he poured forth a stream of +dignified, earnest, sincere words in perfect literary form, and without +the assistance of a note. + +Another description is from the pen of an old pupil in the autumn of +1876, Professor H. Fairfield Osborn, of Columbia College:-- + +Huxley, as a teacher, can never be forgotten by any of his students. He +entered the lecture-room promptly as the clock was striking nine (In +most years the lectures began at ten.), rather quickly, and with his +head bent forward "as if oppressive with its mind." He usually glanced +attention to his class of about ninety, and began speaking before he +reached his chair. He spoke between his lips, but with perfectly clear +analysis, with thorough interest, and with philosophic insight which +was far above the average of his students. He used very few charts, but +handled the chalk with great skill, sketching out the anatomy of an +animal as if it were a transparent object. As in Darwin's face, and as +in Erasmus Darwin's or Buffon's, and many other anatomists with a +strong sense of form, his eyes were heavily overhung by a projecting +forehead and eyebrows, and seemed at times to look inward. His lips +were firm and closely set, with the expression of positiveness, and the +other feature which most marked him was the very heavy mass of hair +falling over his forehead, which he would frequently stroke or toss +back. Occasionally he would light up the monotony of anatomical +description by a bit of humour. + +Huxley was the father of modern laboratory instruction; but in 1879 he +was so intensely engrossed with his own researches that he very seldom +came through the laboratory, which was ably directed by T. Jeffery +Parker, assisted by Howes and W. Newton Parker, all of whom are now +professors, Howes having succeeded to Huxley's chair. Each visit, +therefore, inspired a certain amount of terror, which was really +unwarranted, for Huxley always spoke in the kindest tones to his +students, although sometimes he could not resist making fun at their +expense. There was an Irish student who sat in front of me, whose +anatomical drawings in water-colour were certainly most remarkable +productions. Huxley, in turning over his drawing-book, paused at a +large blur, under which was carefully inscribed, "sheep's liver," and +smilingly said], "I am glad to know that is a liver; it reminds me as +much of Cologne cathedral in a fog as of anything I have ever seen +before." [Fortunately the nationality of the student enabled him to +fully appreciate the humour. + +The same note is sounded in Professor Mivart's description of these +lectures in his Reminiscences:-- + +The great value of Huxley's anatomical ideas, and the admirable +clearness with which he explained them, led me in the autumn of 1861 to +seek admission as a student to his course of lectures at the School of +Mines in Jermyn Street. When I entered his small room there to make +this request, he was giving the finishing touches to a dissection of +part of the nervous system of a skate, worked out for the benefit of +his students. He welcomed my application with the greatest cordiality, +save that he insisted I should be only an honorary student, or rather, +should assist at his lectures as a friend. I availed myself of his +permission on the very next day, and subsequently attended almost all +his lectures there and elsewhere, so that he one day said to me, "I +shall call you my 'constant reader.'" To be such a reader was to me an +inestimable privilege, and so I shall ever consider it. I have heard +many men lecture, but I never heard any one lecture as did Professor +Huxley. He was my very ideal of a lecturer. Distinct in utterance, with +an agreeable voice, lucid as it was possible to be in exposition, with +admirably chosen language, sufficiently rapid, yet never hurried, often +impressive in manner, yet never otherwise than completely natural, and +sometimes allowing his audience a glimpse of that rich fund of humour +ever ready to well forth when occasion permitted, sometimes accompanied +with an extra gleam in his bright dark eyes, sometimes expressed with a +dryness and gravity of look which gave it a double zest. + +I shall never forget the first time I saw him enter his lecture-room. +He came in rapidly, yet without bustle, and as the clock struck, a +brief glance at his audience and then at once to work. He had the +excellent habit of beginning each lecture (save, of course, the first) +with a recapitulation of the main points of the preceding one. The +course was amply illustrated by excellent coloured diagrams, which, I +believe, he had made; but still more valuable were the chalk sketches +he would draw on the blackboard with admirable facility, while he was +talking, his rapid, dexterous strokes quickly building up an organism +in our minds, simultaneously through ear and eye. The lecture over, he +was ever ready to answer questions, and I often admired his patience in +explaining points which there was no excuse for any one not having +understood. + +Still more was I struck with the great pleasure which he showed when he +saw that some special points of his teaching had not only been +comprehended, but had borne fruit, by their suggestiveness in an +appreciative mind. + +To one point I desire specially to bear witness. There were persons who +dreaded sending young men to him, fearing lest their young friends' +religious beliefs should be upset by what they might hear said. For +years I attended his lectures, but never once did I hear him make use +of his position as a teacher to inculcate, or even hint at, his own +theological views, or to depreciate or assail what might be supposed to +be the religion of his hearers. No one could have behaved more loyally +in that respect, and a proof that I thought so is that I subsequently +sent my own son to be his pupil at South Kensington, where his +experience confirmed what had previously been my own. + +As to science, I learnt more from him in two years than I had acquired +in any previous decade of biological study. + +The picture is completed by Professor Howes in the "Students' Magazine" +of the Royal College of Science:-- + +As a class lecturer Huxley was facile princeps, and only those who were +privileged to sit under him can form a conception of his delivery. +Clear, deliberate, never hesitant nor unduly emphatic, never +repetitional, always logical, his every word told. Great, however, as +were his class lectures, his working-men's were greater. Huxley was a +firm believer in the "distillatio per ascensum" of scientific knowledge +and culture, and spared no pains in approaching the artisan and +so-called "working classes." He gave the workmen of his best. The +substance of his "Man's Place in Nature", one of the most successful +and popular of his writings, and of his "Crayfish", perhaps the most +perfect zoological treatise ever published, was first communicated to +them. In one of the last conversations I had with him, I asked his +views on the desirability of discontinuing the workmen's lectures at +Jermyn Street, since the development of working-men's colleges and +institutes is regarded by some to have rendered their continuance +unnecessary. He replied, almost with indignation], "With our central +situation and resources, we ought to be in a position to give the +workmen that which they cannot get elsewhere," [adding that he would +deeply deplore any such discontinuance. + +And now, a word or two concerning Huxley's personal conduct towards his +pupils, hearers, and subordinates. + +As an examiner he was most just, aiming only to ascertain the +examinee's knowledge of fundamentals, his powers of work, and the +manner in which he had been taught. A country school lad came near the +boundary line in the examination; though generally weak, his worst +fault was a confusion of the parts of the heart. In his description of +that organ he had transposed the valves. On appeal, Huxley let him +through, observing, most characteristically, "Poor little beggar, I +never got them correctly myself until I reflected that a bishop was +never in the right." (The "mitral" valve being on the left side.) +Again, a student of more advanced years, of the "mugging" type, who had +come off with flying colours in an elementary examination, showed signs +of uneasiness as the advanced one approached. "Stick an observation +into him," said Huxley. It was stuck, and acted like a stiletto, a jump +into the air and utter collapse being the result. + +With his hearers Huxley was most sympathetic. He always assumed +absolute ignorance on their part, and took nothing for granted. (This +was a maxim on lecturing, adopted from Faraday.) When time permitted, +he would remain after a lecture to answer questions; and in connection +with his so doing his wonderful power of gauging and rising to a +situation, once came out most forcibly. Turning to a student, he asked, +"Well, I hope you understood it all." "All, sir, but one part, during +which you stood between me and the blackboard," was the reply: the +rejoinder, "I did my best to make myself clear, but could not render +myself transparent." Quick of comprehension and of action, he would +stand no nonsense. The would-be teacher who, wholly unfitted by nature +for educational work, was momentarily dismissed, realised this, let us +hope to his advantage. And the man suspected of taking notes of +Huxley's lectures for publication unauthorised, probably learned the +lesson of his life, on being reminded that, in the first place, a +lecture was the property of the person who delivered it, and, in the +second, he was not the first person who had mistaken aspiration for +inspiration. + +Though candid, Huxley was never unkind... + +Huxley never forgot a kindly action, never forsook a friend, nor +allowed a labour to go unrewarded. In testimony to his sympathy to +those about him and his self-sacrifice for the cause of science, it may +be stated that in the old days, when the professors took the fees and +disbursed the working expenses of the laboratories, he, doing this at a +loss, would refund the fees of students whose position, from friendship +or special circumstances, was exceptional. + +As for his lectures and addresses to the public, they used to be +thronged by crowds of attentive listeners. + +Huxley's public addresses (writes Professor Osborn) always gave me the +impression of being largely impromptu; but he once told me: "I always +think out carefully every word I am going to say. There is no greater +danger than the so-called INSPIRATION OF THE MOMENT, which leads you to +say something which is not exactly true, or which you would regret +afterwards." + +Mr. G.W. Smalley has also left a striking description of him as a +lecturer in the seventies and early eighties. + +I used always to admire the simple and business-like way in which +Huxley made his entry on great occasions. He hated anything like +display, and would have none of it. At the Royal Institution, more than +almost anywhere else, the lecturer, on whom the concentric circles of +spectators in their steep amphitheatre look down, focuses the gaze. +Huxley never seemed aware that anybody was looking at him. From +self-consciousness he was, here as elsewhere, singularly free, as from +self-assertion. He walked in through the door on the left, as if he +were entering his own laboratory. In these days he bore scarcely a mark +of age. He was in the full vigour of manhood and looked the man he was. +Faultlessly dressed--the rule in the Royal Institution is evening +costume--with a firm step and easy bearing, he took his place +apparently without a thought of the people who were cheering him. To +him it was an anniversary. He looked, and he probably was, the master. +Surrounded as he was by the celebrities of science and the ornaments of +London drawing-rooms, there was none who had quite the same kind of +intellectual ascendancy which belonged to him. The square forehead, the +square jaw, the tense lines of the mouth, the deep flashing dark eyes, +the impression of something more than strength he gave you, an +impression of sincerity, of solid force, of immovability, yet with the +gentleness arising from the serene consciousness of his strength--all +this belonged to Huxley and to him alone. The first glance magnetised +his audience. The eyes were those of one accustomed to command, of one +having authority, and not fearing on occasion to use it. The hair swept +carelessly away from the broad forehead and grew rather long behind, +yet the length did not suggest, as it often does, effeminacy. He was +masculine in everything--look, gesture, speech. Sparing of gesture, +sparing of emphasis, careless of mere rhetorical or oratorical art, he +had nevertheless the secret of the highest art of all, whether in +oratory or whatever else--he had simplicity. The force was in the +thought and the diction, and he needed no other. The voice was rather +deep, low, but quite audible, at times sonorous, and always full. He +used the chest-notes. His manner here, in the presence of this select +and rather limited audience--for the theatre of the Royal Institution +holds, I think, less than a thousand people--was exactly the same as +before a great company whom he addressed at [Liverpool], as President +of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. I remember +going late to that, and having to sit far back, yet hearing every word +easily; and there too the feeling was the same, that he had mastered +his audience, taken possession of them, and held them to the end in an +unrelaxing grip, as a great actor at his best does. There was nothing +of the actor about him, except that he knew how to stand still, but +masterful he ever was. + +Up to the time of his last illness, he regularly breakfasted at eight, +and avoided, as far as possible, going out to that meal, a "detestable +habit" as he called it, which put him off for the whole day. He left +the house about nine, and from that time till midnight at earliest was +incessantly busy. His regular lectures involved an immensity of labour, +for he would never make a statement in them which he had not personally +verified by experiment. In the Jermyn Street days he habitually made +preparations to illustrate the points on which he was lecturing, for +his students had no laboratory in which to work out the things for +themselves. His lectures to working-men also involved as much careful +preparation as the more conspicuous discourses at the Royal Institution. + +This thoroughness of preparation had no less effect on the teacher than +on the taught. He writes to an old pupil:--] + +It is pleasant when the "bread cast upon the water" returns after many +days; and if the crumbs given in my lectures have had anything to do +with the success on which I congratulate you, I am very glad. + +I used to say of my own lectures that if nobody else learned anything +from them, I did; because I always took a great deal of pains over +them. But it is none the less satisfactory to find that there WERE +other learners. + +[As for the ordinary course of a day's work, the more fitful energy and +useless mornings of the earliest period in London were soon left +behind. He was never one of those portentously early risers who do a +fair day's work before other people are up; there was only one period, +about 1873, when he had to be specially careful of his health, and, +under Sir Andrew Clark's regime, took riding exercise for an hour each +day before starting for South Kensington, that he records the fact of +doing any work before breakfast, and that was letter-writing. + +Much of the day during the session, and still more when his lectures +were over, would thus be spent in original research, or in the +examination and description of fossils in his official duty as +Paleontologist to the Survey. As often as not, there would be a sitting +of some Royal Commission to attend; committees of some learned society; +meetings or dinners in the evening; if not, there would be an article +to write or proofs to correct. Indeed, the greater part of the work by +which the world knows him best was done after dinner, and after a long +day's work in the lecture-room and laboratory. + +He possessed a wonderful faculty for tearing out the heart of a book, +reading it through at a gallop, but knowing what it said on all the +points that interested him. Of verbal memory he had very little; in +spite of all his reading I do not believe he knew half a dozen +consecutive lines of poetry by heart. What he did know was the +substance of what an author had written; how it fitted into his own +scheme of knowledge; and where to find any point again when he wished +to cite it. + +In his biological studies his immense knowledge was firmly fixed in his +mind by practical investigation; as is said above, he would take at +second hand nothing for which he vouched in his teaching, and was +always ready to repeat for himself the experiments of others, which +determined questions of interest to him. The citations, analyses, maps, +with which he frequently accompanied his reading, were all part of the +same method of acquiring facts and setting them in order within his +mind. So careful, indeed, was he in giving nothing at second hand, that +one of his scientific friends reproached him with wasting his time upon +unnecessary scientific work, to which competent investigators had +already given the stamp of their authority. "Poor--," was his comment +afterwards, "if that is his own practice, his work will never live." On +the literary side, he was omnivorous--consuming everything, as Mr. +Spencer put it, from fairy tales to the last volume on metaphysics. + +Unlike Darwin, to whom scientific research was at length the only thing +engrossing enough to make him oblivious of his never-ending ill-health, +to the gradual exclusion of other interests, literary and artistic, +Huxley never lost his delight in literature or in art. He had a keen +eye for a picture or a piece of sculpture, for, in addition to the +draughtsman's and anatomist's sense of form, he had a strong sense of +colour. To good music he was always susceptible. (To one breaking in +upon him at certain afternoon hours in his room at South Kensington, "a +whiff of the pipe" (writes Professor Howes), "and a snatch of some +choice melody or a Bach's fugue, were the not infrequent welcome.") He +played no instrument; as a young man, however, he used to sing a +little, but his voice, though true, was never strong. But he had small +leisure to devote to art. On his holidays he would sometimes sketch +with a firm and rapid touch. His illustrations to the "Cruise of the +Rattlesnake" show what his untrained capacities were. But to go to a +concert or opera was rare after middle life; to go to the theatre rarer +still, much as he appreciated a good play. His time was too deeply +mortgaged; and in later life, the deafness which grew upon him added a +new difficulty. + +In poetry he was sensitive both to matter and form. One school of +modern poetry he dismissed as "sensuous caterwauling": a busy man, time +and patience failed him to wade through the trivial discursiveness of +so much of Wordsworth's verse; thus unfortunately he never realised the +full value of a poet in whom the mass of ore bears so large a +proportion to the pure metal. Shelley was too diffuse to be among his +first favourites; but for simple beauty, Keats; for that, and for the +comprehension of the meaning of modern science, Tennyson; for strength +and feeling, Browning as represented by his earlier poems--these were +the favourites among the moderns. He knew his eighteenth-century +classics, but knew better his Milton and his Shakespeare, to whom he +turned with ever-increasing satisfaction, as men do who have lived a +full life. + +His early acquaintance with German had given him a lasting admiration +of the greatest representatives of German literature, Goethe above all, +in whose writings he found a moral grandeur to be ranked with that of +the Hebrew prophets. Eager to read Dante in the original, he spent much +of his leisure on board the "Rattlesnake" in making out the Italian +with the aid of a dictionary, and in this way came to know the beauties +of the "Divina Commedia". On the other hand, it was a scientific +interest which led him in later life to take up his Greek, though one +use he put it to was to read Homer in the original. + +Though he was a great novel-reader, and, as he grew older, would always +have a novel ready to take up for a while in the evening, his chief +reading, in German and French as well as English, was philosophy and +history. + +His recreations were, as a rule, literary, and consisted in a change of +mental occupation. The only times I can remember his playing an outdoor +game are in the late sixties, when he started his elder children at +cricket on the common at Littlehampton, and in 1871 when he played golf +at St. Andrews. When first married, he promised his wife to reserve +Saturday afternoons for recreation, and constantly went with her to the +Ella concerts. About 1861 she urged him to take exercise by joining Mr. +Herbert Spencer at racquets; but the pressure of work before long +absorbed all his time. In his youth he was extremely fond of chess, and +played eagerly with his fellow-students at Charing Cross Hospital or +with his messmates on board the "Rattlesnake". But after he taught me +the game, somewhere about 1869 or 1870, I do not think he ever found +time for it again. + +His principal exercise was walking during the holidays. In his earlier +days especially, when overwrought by the stress of his life in London, +he used to go off with a friend for a week's walking tour in Wales or +the Lakes, in Brittany or the Eifel country, or in summer for a longer +trip to Switzerland. In this way he "burnt up the waste products," as +he would say, of his town life, and came back fresh for a new spell of +unintermittent work. + +But on the whole, the amount of exercise he took was insufficient for +his bodily needs. Even the riding prescribed for him when he first +broke down, became irksome, and was not continued very long, although +his bodily machine was such as could only be kept in perfect working +order by more exercise than he would give. His physique was not adapted +to burn up the waste without special stimulus. I remember once, as he +and I were walking up Beachy Head, we passed a man with a splendid big +chest. "Ah," said my father regretfully, "if I had only had a chest +like that, what a lot of work I could have done." + +When, in 1872, he built his new house in Marlborough Place, my father +bargained for two points; one, that each member of the family should +have a corner of his or her own, where, as he used to say, it would be +possible to "consume their own smoke"; the other, that the common +living-rooms should be of ample size. Thus from 1874 onwards he was +enabled to see something of his many friends who would come as far as +St. John's Wood on a Sunday evening. No formal invitation for a special +day was needed. The guests came, before supper or after, sometimes +more, sometimes fewer, as on any ordinary at-home day. There was a +simple informal meal at 6.30 or 7 o'clock, which called itself by no +more dignified name than high tea--was, in fact, a cold supper with +varying possibilities in the direction of dinner or tea. It was a +chance medley of old and young--friends of the parents and friends of +the children, but all ultimately centring round the host himself, whose +end of the table never flagged for conversation, grave or gay. + +Afterwards talk would go on in the drawing-room, or, on warm summer +evenings, in the garden--nothing very extensive, but boasting a lawn +with an old apple-tree at the further end, and in the borders such +flowers and trees as endure London air. Later on, there was almost sure +to be some music, to which my father himself was devoted. His daughters +sang; a musical friend would be there; Mr. Herbert Spencer, a frequent +visitor, was an authority on music. Once only do I recollect any other +form of entertainment, and that was an occasion when Sir Henry Irving, +then not long established at the Lyceum, was present and recited +"Eugene Aram" with great effect. + +In his "London Letters" Mr. G.W. Smalley has recorded his impressions +of these evenings (Another interesting account from the same pen is to +be found in the article "Mr. Huxley," Scribner's Magazine, October +1895.), at which he was often present:-- + +There used to be Sunday evening dinners and parties in Marlborough +Place, to which people from many other worlds than those of abstract +science were bidden; where talk was to be heard of a kind rare in any +world. It was scientific at times, but subdued to the necessities of +the occasion; speculative, yet kept within such bounds that bishop or +archbishop might have listened without offence; political even, and +still not commonplace; literary without pretence, and when artistic, +free from affectation. + +There and elsewhere Mr. Huxley easily took the lead if he cared to, or +if challenged. Nobody was more ready in a greater variety of topics, +and if they were scientific it was almost always another who introduced +them. Unlike some of his comrades of the Royal Society, he was of +opinion that man does not live by science alone, and nothing came amiss +to him. All his life long he has been in the front of the battle that +has raged between science and--not religion, but theology in its more +dogmatic form. Even in private the alarm of war is sometimes heard, and +Mr. Huxley is not a whit less formidable as a disputant across the +table than with pen in hand. Yet an angry man must be very angry indeed +before he could be angry with this adversary. He disarmed his enemies +with an amiable grace that made defeat endurable if not entirely +delightful. + +As for his method of handling scientific subjects in conversation:-- + +He has the same quality, the same luminous style of exposition, with +which his printed books have made all readers in America and England +familiar. Yet it has more than that. You cannot listen to him without +thinking more of the speaker than of his science, more of the solid +beautiful nature than of the intellectual gifts, more of his manly +simplicity and sincerity than of all his knowledge and his long +services. + +But his personality left the deepest impression, perhaps, upon those +who studied under him and worked with him longest, before taking their +place elsewhere in the front ranks of biological science. + +With him (Professor A. Hubrecht (Of Utrecht University.) writes), we +his younger disciples, always felt that in acute criticism and vast +learning nobody surpassed him, but still what we yet more admired than +his learning was his wisdom. It was always a delight to read any new +article or essay from his pen, but it was an ever so much higher +delight to hear him talk for five minutes. His was the most beautiful +and the most manly intellect I ever knew of. + +So, too, Professor E. Ray Lankester:-- + +There has been no man or woman whom I have met on my journey through +life, whom I have loved and regarded as I have him, and I feel that the +world has shrunk and become a poor thing, now that his splendid spirit +and delightful presence are gone from it. Ever since I was a little boy +he has been my ideal and hero. + +While the late Jeffery Parker concludes his Recollections with these +words:-- + +Whether a professor is usually a hero to his demonstrator I cannot say; +I only know that, looking back across an interval of many years and a +distance of half the circumference of the globe, I have never ceased to +be impressed with the manliness and sincerity of his character, his +complete honesty of purpose, his high moral standard, his scorn of +everything mean or shifty, his firm determination to speak what he held +to be truth at whatever cost of popularity. And for these things "I +loved the man, and do honour to his memory, on this side idolatry, as +much as any." + +Even those who scarcely knew him apart from his books, underwent the +influence of that "determination to speak what he held to be truth." I +may perhaps be allowed to quote in illustration two passages from +letters to myself--one written by a woman, the other by a man:-- + +"'The surest-footed guide' is exactly true, to my feeling. Everybody +else, among the great, used to disappoint one somewhere. He--never!" + +"He was so splendidly brave that one can never repay one's debt to him +for his example. He made all pretence about religious belief, and the +kind of half-thinking things out, and putting up in a slovenly way with +half-formed conclusions, seem the base thing which it really is." + + +CHAPTER 3.16. + +1895. + +[I have often regretted that I did not regularly take notes of my +father's conversation, which was striking, not so much for the manner +of it--though that was at once copious and crisp,--as for the strength +and substance of what he said. Yet the striking fact, the bit of +philosophy, the closely knitted argument, were perfectly unstudied, and +as in other most interesting talkers, dropped into the flow of +conversation as naturally as would the more ordinary experiences of +less richly stored minds. + +However, in January 1895 I was staying at Eastbourne, and jotted down +several fragments of talk as nearly as I could recollect them. +Conversation not immediately noted down I hardly dare venture upon, +save perhaps such an unforgettable phrase as this, which I remember his +using one day as we walked on the hills near Great Hampden]:--"It is +one of the most saddening things in life that, try as we may, we can +never be certain of making people happy, whereas we can almost always +be certain of making them unhappy." + +[JANUARY 16. + +At lunch he spoke of Dr. Louis Robinson's experiments upon simian +characteristics in new-born children. He himself had called attention +before to the incurved feet of infants, but the power of hanging by the +hands was a new and important discovery. (Professor H.F. Osborn tells +this story of his:--"When a fond mother calls upon me to admire her +baby, I never fail to respond; and while cooing appropriately, I take +advantage of an opportunity to gently ascertain whether the soles of +its feet turn in, and tend to support my theory of arboreal descent.") + +He expressed his disgust with a certain member of the Psychical +Research Society for his attitude towards spiritualism]: "He doesn't +believe in it, yet lends it the cover of his name. He is one of the +people who talk of the 'possibility' of the thing, who think the +difficulties of disproving a thing as good as direct evidence in its +favour." + +[He thought it hard to be attacked for] "the contempt of the man of +science" [when he was dragged into debate by Mr. Andrew Lang's "Cock +Lane and Common Sense", he saying in a very polite letter}: "I am +content to leave Mr. Lang the Cock Lane Ghost if I may keep common +sense." "After all," [he added], "when a man has been through life and +made his judgments, he must have come to a decision that there are some +subjects it is not worth while going into." + +JANUARY 18. + +I referred to an article in the last "Nineteenth Century", and he +said]:--"As soon as I saw it, I wrote, 'Knowles, my friend, you don't +draw me this time. If a man goes on attributing statements to me which +I have shown over and over again--giving chapter and verse--to be the +contrary of what I did say, it is no good saying any more.'" + +[But would not this course of silence leave the mass of the British +public believing the statements of the writer?] + +"The mass of the public will believe in ten years precisely the +opposite of what they believe now. If a man is not a fool, it does him +no harm to be believed one. If he really is a fool, it does matter. +There never was book so derided and scoffed at as my first book, "Man's +Place in Nature", but it was true, and I don't know I was any the worse +for the ridicule. + +"People call me fond of controversy, but, as a fact, for the last +twenty years at all events, I have never entered upon a controversy +without some further purpose in view. As to Gladstone and his +"Impregnable Rock", it wasn't worth attacking them for themselves; but +it was most important at that moment to shake him in the minds of +sensible men. + +"The movement of modern philosophy is back towards the position of the +old Ionian philosophers, but strengthened and clarified by sound +scientific ideas. If I publish my criticism on Comte, I should have to +re-write it as a summary of philosophical ideas from the earliest +times. The thread of philosophical development is not on the lines +usually laid down for it. It goes from Democritus and the rest to the +Epicureans, and then the Stoics, who tried to reconcile it with popular +theological ideas, just as was done by the Christian Fathers. In the +Middle Ages it was entirely lost under the theological theories of the +time; but reappeared with Spinoza, who, however, muddled it up with a +lot of metaphysics which made him almost unintelligible. + +"Plato was the founder of all the vague and unsound thinking that has +burdened philosophy, deserting facts for possibilities, and then, after +long and beautiful stories of what might be, telling you he doesn't +quite believe them himself. + +"A certain time since it was heresy to breathe a word against Plato; +but I have a nice story of Sir Henry Holland. He used to have all the +rising young men to breakfast, and turn out their latest ideas. One +morning I went to breakfast with him, and we got into very intimate +conversation, when he wound up by saying, 'In my opinion, Plato was an +ass! But don't tell any one I said so.'" + +We talked on geographical teaching; he began by insisting on the need +of a map of the earth (on the true scale) showing the insignificance of +all elevations and depressions on the surface. Secondly, one should +take any place as centre, and draw about it circles of 50 or 100 miles +radius, and see what lies within them; and note the extent of the +influence exerted by the central point. At the same time, one should +always compare the British Isles to scale. For instance, the Aegean is +about as big as Britain; while the smallness of Judaea is remarkable. +After the Exile, the Jewish part was about as big as the county of +Gloucester. How few boys realise this, though they are taught classical +geography. + +"The real chosen people were the Greeks. One of the most remarkable +things about them is not only the smallness, but the late rise of +Attica, whereas Magna Graecia flourished in the eighth century. The +Greeks were doing everything--piracy, trade, fighting, expelling the +Persians. Never was there so large a number of self-governing +communities. + +"They fell short of the Jews in morality. How curious is the tolerant +attitude of Socrates, like a modern man of the world talking to a young +fellow who runs after the girls. The Jew, however he fell short in +other respects, set himself a certain standard in cleanliness of life, +and would not fall below it. The more creditable to him, because these +vices were the offspring of the Semitic races among whom the Jew lived. + +"There is a curious similarity between the position of the Jew in +ancient times and what it is now. They were procurers and usurers among +the Gentiles, yet many of them were singularly high-minded and pure. +All too with an intense clannishness, the secret of their success, and +a sense of superiority to the Gentile which would prevent the meanest +Jew from sitting at table with a proconsul. + +"The most remarkable achievement of the Jew was to impose on Europe for +eighteen centuries his own superstitions--his ideas of the +supernatural. Jahveh was no more than Zeus or Milcom; yet the Jew got +established the belief in the inspiration of his Bible and his Law. If +I were a Jew, I should have the same contempt as he has for the +Christian who acted in this way towards me, who took my ideas and +scorned me for clinging to them." + +[January 21. + +Yesterday evening he again declared that it was very hard for a man of +peace like himself to have been dragged into so many controversies.] "I +declare that for the last twenty years I have never attacked, but +always fought in self-defence, counting Darwin, of course, as part of +myself, for dear Darwin never could nor would defend himself. Before +that, I admit I attacked --, but I could not trust the man." [A pause.] +"No, there was one other case, when I attacked without being directly +assailed, and that was Gladstone. But it was good for other reasons. It +has always astonished me how a man after fifty or sixty years of life +among men could be so ignorant of the best way to handle his materials. +If he had only read Dana, he would have found his case much better +stated than ever he stated it. He seemed never to have read the leading +authorities on his own side." + +[Speaking of the hesitation shown by the Senate of London University in +grappling with a threatened obstacle to reform, he remarked]: "It is +very strange how most men will do anything to evade responsibility." + +[January 23. + +At dinner the talk turned on plays. Mr. H.A. Jones had sent him +"Judah", which he thought good, though] "there must be some +hostility--except in the very greatest writers--between the dramatic +and the literary faculties. I noticed many points I objected to, but +felt sure they met with applause. Indeed in the theatre I have noticed +that what I thought the worst blots on a piece invariably brought down +the house." + +[He remarked how the French, in dramatic just as in artistic matters, +are so much better than the English in composition, in avoiding +anything slipshod in the details, though the English artists draw just +as well and colour perhaps better. + +The following sketch of human character is not actually a fragment of +conversation, though it might almost pass for such; it comes from a +letter to Mrs. W.K. Clifford, of February 10, 1895:--] + +Men, my dear, are very queer animals, a mixture of horse-nervousness, +ass-stubbornness and camel-malice--with an angel bobbing about +unexpectedly like the apple in the posset, and when they can do exactly +as they please, they are very hard to drive. + +[Whatever he talked of, his talk never failed to impress those who +conversed with him. One or two such impressions have been recorded. Mr. +Wilfrid Ward, whose interests lie chiefly in philosophy and theology, +was his neighbour at Eastbourne, and in the "Nineteenth Century" for +August 1896 has given various reminiscences of their friendly +intercourse. + +His conversation (he writes) was singularly finished, and (if I may so +express it) clean cut; never long-winded or prosy; enlivened by vivid +illustrations. He was an excellent raconteur, and his stories had a +stamp of their own which would have made them always and everywhere +acceptable. His sense of humour and economy of words would have made it +impossible, had he lived to ninety, that they should ever have been +disparaged as symptoms of what has been called "anecdotage." + +One drawback to conversation, however, he began to complain of during +the later seventies.] + +It is a great misfortune [he remarked to Professor Osborn] to be deaf +in only one ear. Every time I dine out the lady sitting by my good ear +thinks I am charming, but I make a mortal enemy of the lady on my deaf +side. + +[In ordinary conversation he never plunged at once into deep subjects. +His welcome to the newcomer was always of the simplest and most +unstudied. He had no mannerisms nor affectation of phrase. He would +begin at once to talk on everyday topics; an intimate friend he would +perhaps rally upon some standing subject of persiflage. But the +subsequent course of conversation adapted itself to his company. Deeper +subjects were reached soon enough by those who cared for them; with +others he was quite happy to talk of politics or people or his garden, +yet, whatever he touched, never failing to infuse into it an unexpected +interest. + +In this connection, a typical story was told me by a great friend of +mine, whom we had come to know through his marriage with an early +friend of the family. "Going to call at Hodeslea," he said, "I was in +some trepidation, because I didn't know anything about science or +philosophy; but when your mother began to talk over old times with my +wife, your father came across the room and sat down by me, and began to +talk about the dog which we had brought with us. From that he got on to +the different races of dogs and their origin and connections, all quite +simply, and not as though to give information, but just to talk about +something which obviously interested me. I shall never forget how +extraordinarily kind it was of your father to take all this trouble in +entertaining a complete stranger, and choosing a subject which put me +at my ease at once, while he told me all manner of new and interesting +things." + +A few more fragments of his conversation have been preserved--the +following by Mr. Wilfrid Ward. Speaking of Tennyson's conversation, he +said:-- + +Doric beauty is its characteristic--perfect simplicity, without any +ornament or anything artificial. + +Telling how he had been to a meeting of the British Museum Trustees, he +said:--] + +After the meeting, Archbishop Benson helped me on with my great-coat. I +was QUITE OVERCOME by this species of spiritual investiture. "Thank +you, Archbishop," I said, "I feel as if I were receiving the pallium." + +[Speaking of two men of letters, with neither of whom he sympathised, +he once said:--] + +Don't mistake me. One is a thinker and man of letters, the other is +only a literary man. Erasmus was a man of letters, Gigadibs a literary +man. A.B. is the incarnation of Gigadibs. I should call him Gigadibsius +Optimus Maximus. + +[Another time, referring to Dean Stanley's historical +impressionability, as militating against his sympathies with Colenso, +he said:--] + +Stanley could believe in anything of which he had seen the supposed +site, but was sceptical where he had not seen. At a breakfast at +Monckton Milnes's, just at the time of the Colenso row, Milnes asked me +my views on the Pentateuch, and I gave them. Stanley differed from me. +The account of Creation in Genesis he dismissed at once as +unhistorical; but the call of Abraham, and the historical narrative of +the Pentateuch, he accepted. This was because he had seen +Palestine--but he wasn't present at the Creation. + +[When he and Stanley met, there was sure to be a brisk interchange of +repartee. One of these occasions, a ballot day at the Athenaeum, has +been recorded by the late Sir W.H. Flower:-- + +A well-known popular preacher of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, who +had made himself famous by predictions of the speedy coming of the end +of the world, was up for election. I was standing by Huxley when the +Dean, coming straight from the ballot boxes, turned towards us.] +"Well," [said Huxley], "have you been voting for C.?" ["Yes, indeed I +have," replied the Dean.] "Oh, I thought the priests were always +opposed to the prophets," [said Huxley.] "Ah!" replied the Dean, with +that well-known twinkle in his eye, and the sweetest of smiles, "but +you see, I do not believe in his prophecies, and some people say I am +not much of a priest." + +A few words as to his home life may perhaps be fitly introduced here. +Towards his children he had the same union of underlying tenderness +veiled beneath inflexible determination for what was right, which +marked his intercourse with those outside his family. + +As children we were fully conscious of this side of his character. We +felt our little hypocrisies shrivel up before him; we felt a confidence +in the infallible rectitude of his moral judgments which inspired a +kind of awe. His arbitrament was instant and final, though rarely +invoked, and was perhaps the more tremendous in proportion to its +rarity. This aspect, as if of an oracle without appeal, was heightened +in our minds by the fact that we saw but little of him. This was one of +the penalties of his hard-driven existence. In the struggle to keep his +head above water for the first fifteen or twenty years of his married +life, he had scarcely any time to devote to his children. The "lodger," +as he used to call himself at one time, who went out early and came +back late, could sometimes spare half an hour just before or after +dinner to draw wonderful pictures for the little ones, and these were +memorable occasions. I remember that he used to profess a horror of +being too closely watched, or of receiving suggestions, while he drew. +"Take care, take care," he would exclaim, "or I don't know what it will +turn into." + +When I was seven years old I had the misfortune to be laid up with +scarlet fever, and then his gift of drawing was a great solace to me. +The solitary days--for I was the first victim in the family--were very +long, and I looked forward with intense interest to one half-hour after +dinner, when he would come up and draw scenes from the history of a +remarkable bull-terrier and his family that went to the seaside, in a +most human and child-delighting manner. I have seldom suffered a +greater disappointment than when, one evening, I fell asleep just +before this fairy half-hour, and lost it out of my life. + +In those days he often used to take the three eldest of us out for a +walk on Sunday afternoons, sometimes to the Zoological Gardens, more +often to the lanes and fields between St. John's Wood and Hampstead or +West End. For then the flood of bricks and mortar ceased on the +Finchley Road just beyond the Swiss Cottage, and the West End Lane, +winding solitary between its high hedges and rural ditches, was quite +like a country road in holiday time, and was sometimes gladdened in +June with real dog-roses, although the church and a few houses had +already begun to encroach on the open fields at the end of the Abbey +Road. + +My father often used to delight us with sea stories and tales of +animals, and occasionally with geological sketches suggested by the +gravels of Hampstead Heath. But regular "shop" he would not talk to us, +contrary to the expectation of people who have often asked me whether +we did not receive quite a scientific training from his companionship. + +At the Christmas dinner he invariably delighted the children by carving +wonderful beasts, generally pigs, out of orange peel. When the marriage +of his eldest daughter had taken her away from this important function, +she was sent the best specimen as a reminder.] + +4 Marlborough Place, December 25, 1878. + +Dearest Jess, + +We have just finished the mid-day Christmas dinner, at which function +you were badly wanted. The inflammation of the pudding was highly +successful--in fact Vesuvian not to say Aetnaic--and I have never yet +attained so high a pitch in piggygenesis as on this occasion. + +The specimen I enclose, wrapped in a golden cerecloth, and with the +remains of his last dinner in the proper region, will prove to you the +heights to which the creative power of the true artist may soar. I call +it a "Piggurne, or a Harmony in Orange and White." + +Preserve it, my dear child, as evidence of the paternal genius, when +those light and fugitive productions which are buried in the +philosophical transactions and elsewhere are forgotten. + +My best wishes to Fred and you, and may you succeed better than I do in +keeping warm. + +Ever your loving father, + +T.H. Huxley. + +[Later on, however, the younger children who kept up the home at +Marlborough Place after the elder ones had married or gone out into the +world, enjoyed more opportunities of his ever-mellowing companionship. +Strongly as he upheld the conventions when these represented some valid +results of social experience, he was always ready to set aside his mere +likes and dislikes on good cause shown; to follow reason as against the +mere prejudice of custom, even his own. + +Severe he might be on occasion, but never harsh. His idea in bringing +up his children was to accustom them as early as possible to a certain +amount of independence, at the same time trying to make them regard him +as their best friend. + +This aspect of his character is specially touched upon by Sir Leslie +Stephen, in a letter written to my mother in July 1895:-- + +No one, I think, could have more cordially admired Huxley's +intellectual vigour and unflinching honesty than I. It pleases me to +remember that I lately said something of this to him, and that he +received what I said most heartily and kindly. But what now dwells most +in my mind is the memory of old kindness, and of the days when I used +to see him with you and his children. I may safely say that I never +came from your house without thinking how good he is; what a tender and +affectionate nature the man has! It did me good simply to see him. The +recollection is sweet to me now, and I rejoice to think how infinitely +better you know what I must have been dull indeed not more or less to +perceive. + +As he wrote to his son on his twenty-first birthday:--] + +You will have a son some day yourself, I suppose, and if you do, I can +wish you no greater satisfaction than to be able to say that he has +reached manhood without having given you a serious anxiety, and that +you can look forward with entire confidence to his playing the man in +the battle of life. I have tried to make you feel your responsibilities +and act independently as early as possible--but, once for all, remember +that I am not only your father but your nearest friend, ready to help +you in all things reasonable, and perhaps in a few unreasonable. + +[This domestic happiness which struck others so forcibly was one of the +vital realities of his existence. Without it his quick spirit and +nervous temperament could never have endured the long and often +embittered struggle--not merely with equanimity, but with a constant +growth of sympathy for earnest humanity, which, in early days obscured +from view by the turmoil of strife, at length became apparent to all as +the tide of battle subsided. None realised more than himself what the +sustaining help and comradeship of married life had wrought for him, +alike in making his life worth living and in making his life's work +possible. Here he found the pivot of his happiness and his strength; +here he recognised to the full the care that took upon itself all +possible burdens and left his mind free for his greater work. + +He had always a great tenderness for children. "One of my earliest +recollections of him," writes Jeffery Parker, "is in connection with a +letter he wrote to my father, on the occasion of the death, in infancy, +of one of my brothers. 'Why,' he wrote, 'did you not tell us before +that the child was named after me, that we might have made his short +life happier by a toy or two.' I never saw a man more crushed than he +was during the dangerous illness of one of his daughters, and he told +me that, having then to make an after-dinner speech, he broke down for +the first time in his life, and for one painful moment forgot where he +was and what he had to say. I can truly say that I never knew a man +whose way of speaking of his family, or whose manner in his own home, +was fuller of a noble, loving, and withal playful courtesy." + +After he had retired to Eastbourne, his grandchildren reaped the +benefit of his greater leisure. In his age his love of children brimmed +over with undiminished force, unimpeded by circumstances. He would make +endless fun with them, until one little mite, on her first visit, with +whom her grandfather was trying to ingratiate himself with a vast deal +of nonsense, exclaimed: "Well, you are the curioustest old man I ever +seen." + +Another, somewhat older, developed a great liking for astronomy under +her grandfather's tuition. One day a visitor, entering unexpectedly, +was astonished to find the pair of them kneeling on the floor in the +hall before a large sheet of paper, on which the professor was drawing +a diagram of the solar system on a large scale, with a little pellet +and a large ball to represent earth and sun, while the child was +listening with the closest attention to an account of the planets and +their movements, which he knew so well how to make simple and precise +without ever being dull. + +Children seemed to have a natural confidence in the expression of +mingled power and sympathy which, especially in his later years, +irradiated his "square, wise, swarthy face" ("There never was a face, I +do believe" (wrote Sir Walter Besant of the portrait by John Collier), +"wiser, more kindly, more beautiful for wisdom and the kindliness of +it, than this of Huxley."--The "Queen", November 16, 1895.), and +proclaimed to all the sublimation of a broad native humanity tried by +adversity and struggle in the pursuit of noble ends. It was the +confidence that an appeal would not be rejected, whether for help in +distress, or for the satisfaction of the child's natural desire for +knowledge. + +Spirit and determination in children always delighted him. His grandson +Julian, a curly-haired rogue, alternately cherub and pickle, was a +source of great amusement and interest to him. The boy must have been +about four years old when my father one day came in from the garden, +where he had been diligently watering his favourite plants with a big +hose, and said: "I like that chap! I like the way he looks you straight +in the face and disobeys you. I told him not to go on the wet grass +again. He just looked up boldly, straight at me, as much as to say, +'What do YOU mean by ordering me about?' and deliberately walked on to +the grass." + +The disobedient youth who so charmed his grandfather's heart was the +prototype of Sandy in Mrs. Humphry Ward's "David Grieve". When the book +came out my father wrote to the author: "We are very proud of Julian's +apotheosis. He is a most delightful imp, and the way in which he used +to defy me on occasion, when he was here, was quite refreshing. The +strength of his conviction that people who interfere with his freedom +are certainly foolish, probably wicked, is quite Gladstonian." + +A year after, when Julian had learned to write, and was reading the +immortal "Water Babies", wherein fun is poked at his grandfather's name +among the authorities on water-babies and water-beasts of every +description, he greatly desired more light as to the reality of +water-babies. There is a picture by Linley Sambourne, showing my father +and Owen examining a bottled water-baby under big magnifying glasses. +Here, then, was a real authority to consult. So he wrote a letter of +inquiry, first anxiously asking his mother if he would receive in reply +a "proper letter" that he could read for himself, or a "wrong kind of +letter" that must be read to him. + +Dear Grandpater, + +Have you seen a Waterbaby? Did you put it in a bottle? Did it wonder if +it could get out? Can I see it some day? + +Your loving + +Julian. + +To this he received the following reply from his grandfather, neatly +printed, letter by letter, very unlike the orderly confusion with which +his pen usually rushed across the paper--time being so short for such a +multitude of writing--to the great perplexity, often, of his foreign +correspondents.] + +HODESLEA, STAVELEY ROAD, EASTBOURNE, March 24 1892. + +My dear Julian + +I never could make sure about that Water Baby. I have seen Babies in +water and Babies in bottles; but the Baby in the water was not in a +bottle and the Baby in the bottle was not in water. + +My friend who wrote the story of the Water Baby, was a very kind man +and very clever. Perhaps he thought I could see as much in the water as +he did--There are some people who see a great deal and some who see +very little in the same things. + +When you grow up I dare say you will be one of the great-deal seers and +see things more wonderful than Water Babies where other folks can see +nothing. + +Give my best love to Daddy and Mammy and Trevenen--Grand is a little +better but not up yet-- + +Ever + +Your loving + +Grandpater. + +[Others of his family would occasionally receive elaborate pieces of +nonsense, of which I give a couple of specimens. The following is to +his youngest daughter:--] + +Athenaeum Club, May 17, 1892. + +Dearest Babs, + +As I was going along Upper Thames + +Street just now, I saw between Numbers 170 and 211 ( (primary +parenthesis) but you would like to know what I was going along that +odorous street for. Well, it was to inquire how the pen with which I am +now writing--( (2nd parenthesis) you see it is a new-fangled fountain +pen, warranted to cure the worst writing and always spell properly) +(2nd parenthesis)--works, because it would not work properly this +morning. And the nice young woman who took it from me--( (3rd +parenthesis) as who should say you old foodle!) (3rd parenthesis) inked +her own fingers enormously ( (4th parenthesis) which I told her I was +pleased they were her fingers rather than mine) (4th parenthesis)--But +she only smole. ( (5th parenthesis) Close by was another shop where +they sold hose--( (6th or 7th parenthesis) indiarubber, not knitted)--( +(nth parenthesis) and warranted to let water through, not keep it out); +and I asked for a garden syringe, thinking such things likely to be +kept by hosiers of that sort--and they said they had not any, but found +they had a remnant cheap ( (nnth parenthesis) price 3 shillings) which +is less than many people pay for the other hosiers' hose) (end of +parentheses) a doorpost at the side of the doorway of some place of +business with this remarkable notice: + +RULING GIRLS WANTED. + +Don't you think you had better apply at once? Jack will give you a +character, I am sure, on the side of the art of ruling, and I will +speak for the science--also of hereditary (on mother's side) instinct. + +Well I am not sure about the pen yet--but there is no room for any more. + +Ever your loving + +Dad. + +Epistolary composition on the model of a Gladstonian speech to a +deputation on women's suffrage. + +[The other is to his daughter, Mrs. Harold Roller, who had sent him +from abroad a friend's autograph-book for a signature:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, November 1, 1893. + +The epistle of Thomas to the woman of the house of Harold. + +1. I said it was an autograph-book; and so it was. + +2. And naughty words came to the root of my tongue. + +3. And the recording angel dipped his pen in the ink and squared his +elbows to write. + +4. But I spied the hand of the lovely and accomplished but vagabond +daughter. + +5. And I smole; and spoke not; nor uttered the naughty words. + +6. So the recording angel was sold; + +7. And was about to suck his pen. + +8. But I said Nay! give it to me. + +9. And I took the pen and wrote on the book of the Autographs letters +pleasant to the eye and easy to read. + +10. Such as my printers know not: nor the postman--nor the +correspondent, who riseth in his wrath and curseth over my epistle +ordinary. + +[This to his youngest daughter, which, in jesting form, conveys a good +deal of sound sense, was the sequel to a discussion as to the +advisability of a University education for her own and another boy:--] + +Hodeslea, Eastbourne, May 9, 1892. + +Dearest Babs, + +Bickers and Son have abased themselves, and assure me that they have +fetched the Dictionary away and are sending it here. I shall believe +them when it arrives. + +As a rule, I do not turn up when I announce my coming, but I believe I +shall be with you about dinnertime on Friday next (13th). + +In the meanwhile, my good daughter, meditate these things: + +1. Parents not too rich wish to send exceptionally clever, energetic +lad to university--before taking up father's profession of architect. + +2. Exceptionally clever, energetic lad will be well taught classics at +school--not well taught in other things--will easily get a scholarship +either at school or university. So much in parents' pockets. + +3. Exceptionally clever, energetic lad will get as much mathematics, +mechanics, and other needful preliminaries to architecture, as he wants +(and a good deal more if he likes) at Oxford. Excellent physical school +there. + +4. Splendid Art museums at Oxford. + +5. Prigs not peculiar to Oxford. + +6. Don Cambridge would choke science (except mathematics) if it could +as willingly as Don Oxford and more so. + +7. Oxford always represents English opinion, in all its extremes, +better than Cambridge. + +8. Cambridge better for doctors, Oxford for architects, poets, +painters, and-all-that-sort-of-cattle (all crossed out). + +9. LAWRENCE WILL GO TO OXFORD and become a real scholar, which is a +great thing and a noble. He will combine the new and the old, and show +how much better the world would have been if it had stuck to Hellenism. +You are dreaming of the schoolboy who does not follow up his work, or +becomes a mere poll man. Good enough for parsons, not for men. LAWRENCE +WILL GO TO OXFORD. + +Ever your aggrawatin' + +Pa. + +[Like the old Greek sage and statesman, my father might have declared +that old age found him ever learning. Not indeed with the fiery +earnestness of his young days of stress and storm; but with the steady +advance of a practised worker who cannot be unoccupied. History and +philosophy, especially biblical criticism, composed his chief reading +in these later years. + +Fortune had ceased her buffets; broken health was restored; and from +his resting-place among his books and his plants he watched keenly the +struggle which had now passed into other hands, still ready to strike a +blow if need be, or even, on rare occasions, to return to the fighting +line, as when he became a leader in the movement for London University +reform. + +His days at Eastbourne, then, were full of occupation, if not the +occupation of former days. The day began as early; he never relaxed +from the rule of an eight o'clock breakfast. Then a pipe and an hour +and a half of letter-writing or working at an essay. Then a short +expedition around the garden, to inspect the creepers, tend the +saxifrages, or see how the more exposed shrubs could best be sheltered +from the shrivelling winds. The gravelled terrace immediately behind +the house was called the Quarterdeck; it was the place for a brisk +patrolling in uncertain weather or in a north wind. In the lower garden +was a parallel walk protected from the south by a high double hedge of +cypress and golden elder, designed for shelter from the summer sun and +southerly winds. + +Then would follow another spell of work till near one o'clock; the +weather might tempt him out again before lunch; but afterwards he was +certain to be out for an hour or two from half-past two. However hard +it blew, and Eastbourne is seldom still, the tiled walk along the +sea-wall always offered the possibility of a constitutional. But the +high expanse of the Downs was his favourite walk. The air of Beachy +Head, 560 feet up, was an unfailing tonic. In the summer he used to +keep a look-out for the little flowers of the short, close turf of the +chalk which could remind him of his Alpine favourites, in particular +the curious phyteuma; and later on, in the folds of the hills where he +had marked them, the English Gentians. + +After his walk, a cup of tea was followed by more reading or writing +till seven; after dinner another pipe, and then he would return to my +mother in the drawing-room, and settle down in his particular armchair, +with some tough volume of history or theology to read, every now and +again scoring a passage for future reference, or jotting a brief note +on the margin. At ten he would migrate to the study for a final smoke +before going to bed. + +Such was his routine, broken by occasional visits to town on business, +for he was still Dean of the Royal College of Science and a trustee of +the British Museum. Old friends came occasionally to stay for a few +days, and tea-time would often bring one or two of the small circle of +friends whom he had made in Eastbourne. These also he occasionally +visited, but he scarcely ever dined out. The talking was too tiring. + +The change to Eastbourne cut away a whole series of interests, but it +imported a new and very strong one into my father's life. His garden +was not only a convenient ambulatory, but, with its growing flowers and +trees, became a novel and intense pleasure, until he began] "to think +with Candide that 'Cultivons notre jardin' comprises the whole duty of +man." + +[It was strange that this interest should have come suddenly at the end +of his life. Though he had won the prize in Lindley's botanical class, +he had never been a field botanist till he was attracted by the Swiss +gentians. As has been said before, his love of nature had never run to +collecting either plants or animals. Mere "spider-hunters and +hay-naturalists," as a German friend called them, he was inclined to +regard as the camp-followers of science. It was the engineering side of +nature, the unity of plan of animal construction, worked out in +infinitely varying detail, which engrossed him. Walking once with +Hooker in the Rhone valley, where the grass was alive with red and +green grasshoppers, he said,] "I would give anything to be as +interested in them as you are." + +[But this feeling, unknown to him before, broke out in his gentian +work. He told Hooker, "I can't express the delight I have in them." It +continued undiminished when once he settled in the new house and laid +out a garden. His especial love was for the rockery of Alpines, many of +which came from Sir J. Hooker. + +Here, then, he threw himself into gardening with characteristic ardour. +He described his position as a kind of mean between the science of the +botanist and the empiricism of the working gardener. He had plenty to +suggest, but his gardener, like so many of his tribe, had a rooted +mistrust of any gardening lore culled from books. "Books? They'll say +anything in them books." And he shared, moreover, that common +superstition, perhaps really based upon a question of labour, that +watering of flowers, unnecessary in wet weather, is actively bad in +dry. So my father's chief occupation in the garden was to march about +with a long hose, watering, and watering especially his alpines in the +upper garden and along the terraces lying below the house. The +saxifrages and the creepers on the house were his favourite plants. +When he was not watering the one he would be nailing up the other, for +the winds of Eastbourne are remarkably boisterous, and shrivel up what +they do not blow down.] "I believe I shall take to gardening," [he +writes, a few months after entering the new house,] "if I live long +enough. I have got so far as to take a lively interest in the condition +of my shrubs, which have been awfully treated by the long cold." + +[From this time his letters contain many references to his garden. He +is astonished when his gardener asks leave to exhibit at the local +show, but delighted with his pluck. Hooker jestingly sends him a plant +"which will flourish on any dry, neglected bit of wall, so I think it +will just suit you."] + +Great improvements have been going on (he writes in 1892), and the next +time you come you shall walk in the "avenue" of four box-trees. Only +five are to be had for love or money at present, but there are hopes of +a sixth, and then the "avenue" will be full ten yards long! Figurez +vous ca! + +[It was of this he wrote on October 1:--] + +Thank Heaven we are settled down again and I can vibrate between my +beloved books and even more beloved saxifrages. + +The additions to the house are great improvements every way, outside +and in, and when the conservatory is finished we shall be quite +palatial; but, alas, of all my box-trees only one remains green, that +is the "amari," or more properly "fusci" aliquid. + +[Sad things will happen, however. Although the local florists vowed +that the box-trees would not stand the winds of Eastbourne, he was set +on seeing if he could not get them to grow despite the gardeners, whom +he had once or twice found false prophets. But this time they were +right. Vain were watering and mulching and all the arts of the +husbandman. The trees turned browner and browner every day, and the +little avenue from terrace to terrace had to be ignominiously uprooted +and removed. + +A sad blow this, worse even than the following:--] + +A lovely clematis in full flower, which I had spent hours in nailing +up, has just died suddenly. I am more inconsolable than Jonah! + +[He answers some gardening chaff of Sir Michael Foster's:--] + +Wait till I cut you out at the Horticultural. I have not made up my +mind what to compete in yet. Look out when I do! + +[And when the latter offered to propose him for that Society, he +replied:--] + +Proud an' 'appy should I be to belong to the Horticultural if you will +see to it. Could send specimens of nailing up creepers if qualification +is required. + +[After his long battlings for his early loves of science and liberty of +thought, his later love of the tranquil garden seemed in harmony with +the dignified rest from struggle. To those who thought of the past and +the present, there was something touching in the sight of the old man +whose unquenched fires now lent a gentler glow to the peaceful +retirement he had at length won for himself. His latter days were +fruitful and happy in their unflagging intellectual interests, set off +by the new delights of the succidia altera, that second resource of +hale old age for many a century. + +All through his last and prolonged illness, from earliest spring until +midsummer, he loved to hear how the garden was getting on, and would +ask after certain flowers and plants. When the bitter cold spring was +over and the warm weather came, he spent most of the day outside, and +even recovered so far as to be able to walk once into the lower garden +and visit his favourite flowers. These children of his old age helped +to cheer him to the last. + +*** + + +APPENDIX 1. + +As for this unfinished work, suggestive outlines left for others to +fill in, Professor Howes writes to me in October 1899:-- + +Concerning the papers at South Kensington, which, as part of the +contents of your father's book-shelves, were given by him to the +College, and now are arranged, numbered, and registered in order for +use, there is evidence that in 1858 he, with his needles and eyeglass, +had dissected and carefully figured the so-called pronephros of the +Frog's tadpole, in a manner which as to accuracy of detail anticipated +later discovery. Again, in the early '80's, he had observed and +recorded in a drawing the prae-pulmonary aortic arch of the Amphibian, +at a period antedating the researches of Boas, which in connection with +its discovery placed the whole subject of the morphology of the +pulmonary artery of the vertebrata on its final basis, and brought +harmony into our ideas concerning it. + +Both these subjects lie at the root of modern advances in vertebrate +morphology. + +Concerning the skull, he was in the '80's back to it with a will. His +line of attack was through the lampreys and hags and the higher +cartilaginous fishes, and he was following up a revolutionary +conception (already hinted at in his Hunterian Lectures in 1864, and +later in a Royal Society paper on Amphioxus in 1875), that the +trabeculae cranii, judged by their relationships to the nerves, may +represent a pair of prae-oral visceral arches. In his unpublished notes +there is evidence that he was bringing to the support of this +conclusion the discovery of a supposed 4th branch to the trigeminal +nerve--the relationships of this (which he proposed to term the +"hyporhinal" or palato-nasal division) and the ophthalmic (to have been +termed the "orbitonasal" (A term already applied by him in 1875 to the +corresponding nerve in the Batrachia. ("Encyclopaedia Britannica" 9th +edition, volume 1 article "Amphibia."))) to the trabecular arch and a +supposed prae-mandibular visceral cleft, being regarded as repetitional +of those of the maxillary and mandibular divisions to the mandibular +cleft. So far as I am aware, von Kupffer is the only observer who has +given this startling conclusion support, in his famous "Studien" (Hf. +I. Kopf Acipenser, Munchen, 1893), and from the nature of other recent +work on the genesis of parts of the cranium hitherto thought to be +wholly trabecular in origin, it might well be further upheld. As for +the discovery of the nerve, I have been lately much interested to find +that Mr. E. Phelps Allis, junior, an investigator who has done grand +work in Cranial Morphology, has recently and independently arrived at a +similar result. It was while working in my laboratory in July last that +he mentioned the fact to me. Remembering that your father had published +the aforementioned hints on the subject, and recalling conversations I +had with him, it occurred to me to look into his unpublished +manuscripts (then being sorted), if perchance he had gone further. And, +behold! there is a lengthy attempt to write the matter up in full, in +which, among other things, he was seeking to show that, on this basis, +the mode of termination of the notochord in the Craniata, and in the +Branchiostomidae (in which the trabecular arch is undifferentiated), is +readily explained. Mr. Allis's studies are now progressing, and I have +arranged with him that if, in the end, his results come sufficiently +close to your father's, he shall give his work due recognition and +publicity. (See "The Lateral Sensory Canals, the Eye-Muscles, and the +Peripheral Distribution of certain of the Cranial Nerves of Mustelus +laevis" by Edward Phelps Allis, junior, reprinted from "Quarterly +Journal Micr. S." volume 45 part 2 New Series.) + +Among his schemes of the early '80's, there was actually commenced a +work on the principles of Mammalian Anatomy and an Elementary Treatise +on the Vertebrata. The former exists in the shape of a number of +drawings with very brief notes, the latter to a slight extent only in +manuscript. In the former, intended for the medical student and as a +means of familiarising him with the anatomical "tree" as distinct from +its surgical "leaves," your father once again returned to the skull, +and he leaves a scheme for a revised terminology of its nerve exits +worthy his best and most clear-headed endeavours of the past. +(Concerning this he wrote to Professor Howes in 1890 when giving him +permission to denote two papers which he was about to present to the +Zoological Society, as the first which emanated from the Huxley +Research Laboratory]:--"Pray do as you think best about the +nomenclature. I remember when I began to work at the skull it seemed a +hopeless problem, and years elapsed before I got hold of the clue." +[And six weeks later, he writes]:--"You are always welcome to turn +anything of mine to account, though I vow I do not just now recollect +anything about the terms you mention. If you were to examine me in my +own papers, I believe I should be plucked.") [And well do I remember +how, in the '80's, both in the class-room and in conversation, he would +emphasise the fact that the hypoglossus nerve roots of the mammal arise +serially with the ventral roots of the spinal nerves, little thinking +that the discovery by Froriep, in 1886, of their dorsal ganglionated +counterparts, would establish the actual homology between the two, and +by leading to the conclusion that though actual vertebrae do not +contribute to the formation of the mammalian skull, its occipital +region is of truncal origin, mark the most revolutionary advance in +cranial morphology since his own of 1856. + +Much of the final zoological work of his life lay with the Bony Fishes, +and he leaves unfinished (indeed only just commenced) a memoir +embodying a new scheme of classification of these, which shows that he +was intending to do for them what he did for Birds in the most active +period of his career. It was my good fortune to have helped as a hodman +in the study of these creatures, with a view to a Text-book we were to +have written conjointly, and as I realise what he was intending to make +out of the dry facts, I am filled with grief at the thought of what we +must have lost. His classification was based on the labours of years, +as testified by a vast accumulation of rough notes and sketches, and as +a conspicuous feature of it there stands the embodiment under one head +of all those fishes having the swim-bladder in connection with the +auditory organ by means of a chain of ossicles--a revolutionary +arrangement, which later, in the hands of the late Dr. Sagemahl, and by +his introduction of the famous term--"Ostariophyseae," has done more +than all else of recent years to clear the Ichthyological air. Your +father had anticipated this unpublished, and in a proposal to unite the +Herrings and Pikes into a single group, the "Clupesoces," he had +further given promise of a new system, based on the study of the +structure of the fins, jaws, and reproductive organs of the Bony +Fishes, the classifications of which are still largely chaotic, which +would have been as revolutionary as it was rational. New terms both in +taxonomy and anatomy were contemplated, and in part framed. His +published terms "Elasmo-" and "Cysto-arian" are the adjective form of +two--far-reaching and significant--which give an idea of what was to +have come. Similarly, the spinose fin-rays were to have been termed +"acanthonemes," the branching and multiarticulate "arthronemes," and +those of the more elementary and "adipose fin" type "protonemes": and +had he lived to complete the task, I question whether it would not have +excelled his earlier achievements. + +The Rabbit was to have been the subject of the first of the +aforementioned books, and in the desire to get at the full meaning of +problems which arose during its progress, he was led to digress into a +general anatomical survey of the Rodentia, and in testimony to this +there remain five or six books of rough notes bearing dates 1880 to +1884, and a series of finished pencil-drawings, which, as works of art +and accurate delineations of fact, are among the most finished +productions of his hand. In the same manner his contemplated work upon +the Vertebrata led him during 1879-1880 to renewed investigation of the +anatomy of some of the more aberrant orders. Especially as concerning +the Marsupialia and Edentata was this the case, and to the end in view +he secured living specimens of the Vulpine Phalanger, and purchased of +the Zoological Society the Sloths and Ant-eaters which during that +period died in their Gardens. These he carefully dissected, and he +leaves among his papers a series of incomplete notes (fullest as +concerning the Phalanger and Cape Anteater [Orycteropus] ([I was +privileged to assist in the dissection of the latter animal, and well +do I remember how, when by means of a blow-pipe he had inflated the +bladder, intent on determining its limit of distensibility, the organ +burst, with unpleasant results, which called forth the remark] "I think +we'll leave it at that!")), which were never finished up. + +They prove that he intended the production of special monographs on the +anatomy of these peculiar mammalian forms, as he did on members of +other orders which he had less fully investigated, and on the more +important groups of fishes alluded to in the earlier part of my letter; +and there seems no doubt, from the collocation of dates and study of +the order of the events, that his memorable paper "On the Application +of the Laws of Evolution to the arrangement of the Vertebrata, and more +particularly of the Mammalia," published in the "Proceedings of the +Zoological Society" for 1880,--the most masterly among his scientific +theses--was the direct outcome of this intention, the only expression +which he gave to the world of the interaction of a series of +revolutionary ideas and conceptions (begotten of the labours of his +closing years as a working zoologist) which were at the period assuming +shape in his mind. They have done more than all else of their period to +rationalise the application of our knowledge of the Vertebrata, and +have now left their mark for all time on the history of progress, as +embodied in our classificatory systems. + +He was in 1882 extending his important observations upon the +respiratory apparatus from birds to reptiles, with results which show +him to have been keenly appreciative of the existence of fundamental +points of similarity between the Avian and Chelonian types--a field +which has been more recently independently opened up by Milani. + +Nor must it be imagined that after the publication of his ideal work on +the Crayfishes in 1880, he had forsaken the Invertebrata. On the +contrary, during the late '70's, and on till 1882, he accumulated a +considerable number of drawings (as usual with brief notes), on the +Mollusca. Some are rough, others beautiful in every respect, and among +the more conspicuous outcomes of the work are some detailed +observations on the nervous system, and an attempt to formulate a new +terminology of orientation of the Acephalous Molluscan body. The period +embraces that of his research upon the Spirula of the "Challenger" +expedition, since published; and incidentally to this he also +accumulated a series of valuable drawings, with explanatory notes, of +Cephalopod anatomy, which, as accurate records of fact, are unsurpassed. + +As you are aware, he was practically the founder of the Anthropological +Institute. Here again, in the late '60's and early '70's, he was most +clearly contemplating a far-reaching inquiry into the physical +anthropology of all races of mankind. There remain in testimony to this +some 400 to 500 photographs (which I have had carefully arranged in +order and registered), most of them of the nude figure standing erect, +with the arm extended against a scale. A desultory correspondence +proves that in connection with these he was in treaty with British +residents and agents all over the world, with the Admiralty and naval +officers, and that all was being done with a fixed idea in view. He was +clearly contemplating something exhaustive and definite which he never +fulfilled, and the method is now the more interesting from its being +essentially the same as that recently and independently adopted by +Mortillet. + +Beyond this, your father's notes reveal numerous other indications of +matters and phases of activity, of great interest in their bearings on +the history and progress of contemporary investigation, but these are +of a detailed and wholly technical order. + + +APPENDIX 2. + +His administrative work as an officer of the Royal Society is described +in the following note by Sir Joseph Hooker:-- + +Mr. Huxley was appointed Joint-Secretary of the Royal Society, November +30, 1871, in succession to Dr. Sharpey, Sir George Airy being +President, and Professor (now Sir George) Stokes, Senior Secretary. He +held the office till November 30, 1880. The duties of the office are +manifold and heavy; they include attendance at all the meetings of the +Fellows, and of the councils, committees, and sub-committees of the +Society, and especially the supervision of the printing and +illustrating all papers on biological subjects that are published in +the Society's Transactions and Proceedings: the latter often involving +a protracted correspondence with the authors. To this must be added a +share in the supervision of the staff of officers, of the library and +correspondence, and the details of house-keeping. + +The appointment was well-timed in the interest of the Society, for the +experience he had obtained as an officer in the Surveying Expedition of +Captain Stanley rendered his co-operation and advice of the greatest +value in the efforts which the Society had recently commenced to induce +the Government, through the Admiralty especially, to undertake the +physical and biological exploration of the ocean. It was but a few +months before his appointment that he had been placed upon a committee +of the Society, through which H.M.S. "Porcupine" was employed for this +purpose in the European seas, and negotiations had already been +commenced with the Admiralty for a voyage of circumnavigation with the +same objects, which eventuated in the "Challenger" Expedition. + +In the first year of his appointment, the equipment of the +"Challenger", and selection of its officers, was entrusted to the Royal +Society, and in the preparation of the instructions to the naturalists +Mr. Huxley had a dominating responsibility. In the same year a +correspondence commenced with the India Office on the subject of +deep-sea dredging in the Indian Ocean (it came to nothing), and another +with the Royal Geographical Society on that of a North Polar +Expedition, which resulted in the Nares Expedition (1875). In 1873, +another with the Admiralty on the advisability of appointing +naturalists to accompany two of the expeditions about to be despatched +for observing the transit of Venus across the sun's disk in Mauritius +and Kerguelen, which resulted in three naturalists being appointed. +Arduous as was the correspondence devolving on the Biological +Secretary, through the instructing and instalment of these two +expeditions, it was as nothing compared with the official, +demi-official, and private, with the Government and individuals, that +arose from the Government request that the Royal Society should arrange +for the publication and distribution of the enormous collections +brought home by the above-named expedition. It is not too much to say +that Mr. Huxley had a voice in every detail of these publications. The +sittings of the Committee of Publication of the "Challenger" Expedition +collections (of which Sir J.D. Hooker was chairman, and Mr. Huxley the +most active member) were protracted from 1876 to 1895, and resulted in +the publication of fifty royal quarto volumes, with plates, maps, +sections, etc., the work of seventy-six authors, every shilling of the +expenditure on which (some 50,000 pounds) was passed under the +authority of the Committee of Publication. + +Nor was Mr. Huxley less actively interested in the domestic affairs of +the Society. In 1873 the whole establishment was translated from the +building subsequently occupied by the Royal Academy to that which it +now inhabits in the same quadrangle; a flitting of library stuff and +appurtenances involving great responsibilities on the officers for the +satisfactory re-establishment of the whole institution. In 1874 a very +important alteration of the bye-laws was effected, whereby that which +gave to Peers the privilege of being proposed for election as Fellows, +without previous selection by the Committee (and to which bye-laws, as +may be supposed, Mr. Huxley was especially repugnant), was replaced by +one restricting that privilege to Privy Councillors. In 1875 he +actively supported a proposition for extending the interests taken in +the Society by holding annually a reception, to which the lady friends +of the Fellows who were interested in science should be invited to +inspect an exhibition of some of the more recent inventions, +appliances, and discoveries in science. And in the same year another +reform took place in which he was no less interested, which was the +abolition of the entrance fees for ordinary Fellows, which had proved a +bar to the coming forward of men of small incomes, but great eminence. +The loss of income to the Society from this was met by a subscription +of no less than 10,666 pounds, raised almost entirely amongst the +Fellows themselves for the purpose. + +In 1876 a responsibility, that fell heavily on the Secretaries, was the +allotment annually of a grant by the Treasury of 4000 pounds, to be +expended, under the direction of the Royal and other learned societies, +on the advancement of science. (It is often called a grant to the Royal +Society. This is an error. The Royal Society, as such, in no way +participates in this grant. The Society makes grants from funds in its +own possession only.) Every detail of the business of this grant is +undertaken by a large committee of the Royal and other scientific +societies, which meets in the Society's rooms, and where all the +business connected with the grant is conducted and the records kept. + + +APPENDIX 3. + +LIST OF ESSAYS, BOOKS, AND SCIENTIFIC MEMOIRS, BY T.H. HUXLEY. + + +ESSAYS. + +"The Darwinian Hypothesis." ("Times" December 26, 1859.) "Collected +Essays" 2. + +"On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences." (An Address +delivered at St. Martin's Hall, on July 22, 1854, and published as a +pamphlet in that year.) "Lay Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"Time and Life." ("Macmillan's Magazine" December 1859.) + +"The Origin of Species." (The "Westminster Review" April 1860.) "Lay +Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 2. + +"A Lobster: or the Study of Zoology." (A Lecture delivered at the South +Kensington Museum in 1861, and subsequently published by the Department +of Science and Art. Original title, "On the Study of Zoology.") "Lay +Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Geological Contemporaneity and Persistent Types of Life." (The +Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1862.) "Lay Sermons"; +"Collected Essays" 8. + +"Six Lectures to Working Men on Our Knowledge of the Causes of the +Phenomena of Organic Nature, 1863." "Collected Essays" 2. + +"Man's Place in Nature," see List of Books. Republished, "Collected +Essays" 7. + +"Criticisms on 'The Origin of Species.'" (The "Natural History Review" +1864.) "Lay Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"Emancipation--Black and White." (The "Reader" May 20, 1865.) "Lay +Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"On the Methods and Results of Ethnology." (The "Fortnightly Review" +1865.) "Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 7. + +"On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge." (A Lay Sermon +delivered in St. Martin's Hall, January 7, 1866, and subsequently +published in the "Fortnightly Review".) "Lay Sermons"; "Collected +Essays" 1. + +"A Liberal Education: and where to find it." (An Address to the South +London Working Men's College, delivered January 4, 1868, and +subsequently published in "Macmillan's Magazine".) "Lay Sermons"; +"Collected Essays" 3. + +"On a Piece of Chalk." (A Lecture delivered to the working men of +Norwich, during the meeting of the British Association, in 1868. +Subsequently published in "Macmillan's Magazine".) "Lay Sermons"; +"Collected Essays" 8. + +"On the Physical Basis of Life." (A Lay Sermon, delivered in Edinburgh, +on Sunday, November 8, 1868, at the request of the late Reverend James +Cranbrook; subsequently published in the "Fortnightly Review".) "Lay +Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 1. + +"The Scientific Aspects of Positivism." (A Reply to Mr. Congreve's +Attack upon the Preceding Paper. Published in the "Fortnightly Review" +1869.) "Lay Sermons". + +"The Genealogy of Animals." (A Review of Haeckel's "Naturliche +Schopfungs-Geschichte". The "Academy" 1869.) "Critiques and Addresses"; +"Collected Essays" 2. + +"Geological Reform." (The Anniversary Address to the Geological Society +for 1869.) "Lay Sermons"; "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Scientific Education: Notes of an After-Dinner Speech." (Delivered +before the Liverpool Philomathic Society in April 1869, and +subsequently published in "Macmillan's Magazine".) "Lay Sermons"; +"Collected Essays" 3. + +"On Descartes' 'Discourse touching the Method of using one's Reason +rightly, and of seeking Scientific Truth.'" (An Address to the +Cambridge Young Men's Christian Society, delivered on March 24, 1870, +and subsequently published in "Macmillan's Magazine".) "Lay Sermons"; +"Collected Essays" 1. + +"On some Fixed Points in British Ethnology." (The "Contemporary Review" +July 1870.) "Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 7. + +"Biogenesis and Abiogenesis." (The Presidential Address to the British +Association for the Advancement of Science, 1870.) "Critiques and +Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Paleontology and the Doctrine of Evolution." (The Presidential Address +to the Geological Society, 1870.) "Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected +Essays" 8. + +"On Medical Education." (An Address to the Students of the Faculty of +Medicine in University College, London, 1870.) "Critiques and +Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"On Coral and Coral Reefs." ("Good Words" 1870.) "Critiques and +Addresses". + +"The School Boards: What they can do, and what they may do." (The +"Contemporary Review" December 1870.) "Critiques and Addresses"; +"Collected Essays" 3. + +"Administrative Nihilism." (An Address delivered to the Members of the +Midland Institute, on October 9, 1871, and subsequently published in +the "Fortnightly Review".) "Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected +Essays" 1. + +"Mr. Darwin's Critics." (The "Contemporary Review" November 1871.) +"Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 2. + +"On the Formation of Coal." (A Lecture delivered before the Members of +the Bradford Philosophical Institution, December 29, 1871, and +subsequently published in the "Contemporary Review".) "Critiques and +Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Yeast." (The "Contemporary Review" December 1871.) "Critiques and +Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Bishop Berkeley on the Metaphysics of Sensation." ("Macmillan's +Magazine" June 1871.) "Critiques and Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 6. + +"The Problems of the Deep Sea" (1873). "Collected Essays" 8. + +"Universities: Actual and Ideal." (The Inaugural Address of the Lord +Rector of the University of Aberdeen, February 27, 1874. "Contemporary +Review" 1874.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"Joseph Priestley." (An Address delivered on the Occasion of the +Presentation of a Statue of Priestley to the Town of Birmingham on +August 1, 1874.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History." (An +Address delivered at the Meeting of the British Association for the +Advancement of Science, at Belfast, 1874.) "Science and Culture"; +"Collected Essays" 1. + +"On some of the Results of the Expedition of H.M.S. 'Challenger'" 1875. +"Collected Essays" 8. + +"On the Border Territory between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms." +(An Evening Lecture at the Royal Institution, Friday, January 28, 1876. +"Macmillan's Magazine" 1876.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" +8. + +"Three Lectures on Evolution." (New York, September 18, 20, 22, 1876.) +"American Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"Address on University Education." (Delivered at the opening of the +Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, September 12, 1876.) "American +Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"On the Study of Biology." (A Lecture in connection with the Loan +Collection of Scientific Apparatus at South Kensington Museum, December +16, 1876.) "American Addresses"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"Elementary Instruction in Physiology." (Read at the Meeting of the +Domestic Economy Congress at Birmingham, 1877.) "Science and Culture"; +"Collected Essays" 3. + +"Technical Education." (An Address delivered to the Working Men's Club +and Institute, December 1, 1877.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected +Essays" 3. + +"Evolution in Biology." (The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" ninth edition +volume 8 1878.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 2. + +"Hume," 1878. "Collected Essays" 6. See also under "Books." + +"On Sensation and the Unity of Structure of the Sensiferous Organs." +(An Evening Lecture at the Royal Institution, Friday, March 7, 1879.) +"Nineteenth Century" April 1879. "Science and Culture"; "Collected +Essays" 6. + +"Prefatory Note to the Translation of E. Haeckel's Freedom in Science +and Teaching," 1879. (Kegan Paul.) + +"On Certain Errors respecting the Structure of the Heart attributed to +Aristotle." "Nature" November 6, 1879. "Science and Culture". + +"The Coming of Age of 'The Origin of Species.'" (An Evening Lecture at +the Royal Institution, Friday, April 9, 1880.) "Science and Culture"; +"Collected Essays" 2. + +"On the Method of Zadig." (A Lecture delivered at the Working Men's +College, Great Ormond Street, 1880. "Nineteenth Century" June 1880.) +"Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"Science and Culture." (An Address delivered at the Opening of Sir +Josiah Mason's Science College at Birmingham on October 1, 1880.) +"Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"The Connection of the Biological Sciences with Medicine." (An Address +delivered at the Meeting of the International Medical Congress in +London, August 9, 1881.) "Science and Culture"; "Collected Essays" 3. + +"The Rise and Progress of Paleontology." (An Address delivered at the +York Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, +1881.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"Charles Darwin." (Obituary Notice in "Nature", April 1882.) "Collected +Essays" 2. + +"On Science and Art in Relation to Education." (An Address to the +Members of the Liverpool Institution, 1882.) "Collected Essays" 3. + +"The State and the Medical Profession." (The Opening Address at the +London Hospital Medical School, 1884.) "Collected Essays" 3. + +"The Darwin Memorial." (A Speech delivered at the Unveiling of the +Darwin Statue at South Kensington, June 9, 1885.) "Collected Essays" 2. + +"The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature." +("Nineteenth Century", December 1885.) "Controverted Questions"; +"Collected Essays" 4. + +"Mr. Gladstone and Genesis." ("Nineteenth Century", February 1886.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"The Evolution of Theology: An Anthropological Study." ("Nineteenth +Century", March and April 1886.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected +Essays" 4. + +"Science and Morals." ("Fortnightly Review" November 1886.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 9. + +"Scientific and Pseudo-Scientific Realism." ("Nineteenth Century", +February 1887.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Science and Pseudo-Science." ("Nineteenth Century", April 1887.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"An Episcopal Trilogy." ("Nineteenth Century", November 1887.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Address on behalf of the National Association for the Promotion of +Technical Education" (1887). "Collected Essays" 3. + +"The Progress of Science" (1887). (Reprinted from "The Reign of Queen +Victoria", by T.H. Ward.) "Collected Essays" 1. + +"Darwin Obituary." ("Proceedings of the Royal Society" 1888.) +"Collected Essays" 2. + +"The Struggle for Existence in Human Society." ("Nineteenth Century", +February 1888.) "Collected Essays" 9. + +"Agnosticism." ("Nineteenth Century", February 1889.) "Controverted +Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"The Value of Witness to the Miraculous." ("Nineteenth Century", March +1889.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Agnosticism: A Rejoinder." ("Nineteenth Century", April 1889.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Agnosticism and Christianity." ("Nineteenth Century", June 1889.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"The Natural Inequality of Men." ("Nineteenth Century". January 1890.) +"Collected Essays" 1. + +"Natural Rights and Political Rights." ("Nineteenth Century", February +1890.) "Collected Essays" 1. + +"Capital, the Mother of Labour." ("Nineteenth Century", March 1890.) +"Collected Essays" 9. + +"Government: Anarchy or Regimentation." ("Nineteenth Century", May +1890.) "Collected Essays" 1. + +"The Lights of the Church and the Light of Science." ("Nineteenth +Century", July 1890.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"The Aryan Question." ("Nineteenth Century", November 1890.) "Collected +Essays" 7. + +"The Keepers of the Herd of Swine." ("Nineteenth Century", December +1890.) "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Autobiography." (1890, "Collected Essays" 1.) This originally appeared +with a portrait in a series of biographical sketches by C. Engel. + +"Illustrations of Mr. Gladstone's Controversial Methods." ("Nineteenth +Century", March 1891). "Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Hasisadra's Adventure." ("Nineteenth Century", June 1891.) +"Controverted Questions"; "Collected Essays" 4. + +"Possibilities and Impossibilities." (The "Agnostic Annual" for 1892.) +1891, "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Social Diseases and Worse Remedies." (1891.) Letters to the "Times", +December 1890 and January 1891. Published in pamphlet form (Macmillan & +Co.) 1891. "Collected Essays" 9. + +"An Apologetic Irenicon." ("Fortnightly Review", November 1892.) + +"Prologue to 'Controverted Questions'" (1892). "Controverted +Questions"; "Collected Essays" 5. + +"Evolution and Ethics," being the Romanes Lecture for 1893. Also +"Prolegomena," 1894. "Collected Essays" 9. + +"Owen's Position in the History of Anatomical Science," being a chapter +in the "Life of Sir Richard Owen", by his grandson, the Reverend +Richard Owen (1894). "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + + +BOOKS. + +"Kolliker's Manual of Human Histology". (Translated and edited by T.H. +Huxley and G. Busk), 1853. + +"Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature," 1863. + +"Lectures on the Elements of Comparative Anatomy" (one volume only +published), 1864. + +"Elementary Atlas of Comparative Osteology" (in 12 plates), 1864. + +"Lessons in Elementary Physiology." First edition printed 1866; second +edition, 1868; reprinted 1869, 1870, 1871, 1872 (twice); third edition, +1872; reprinted 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1878, 1879, 1881, 1883, 1884 +(six times); fourth edition, 1885; reprinted 1886, 1888, 1890, 1892, +1893 (twice), 1896, 1898. + +"An Introduction to the Classification of Animals," 1869. + +"Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews." First edition printed 1870; +second edition, 1871; reprinted 1871, 1872, 1874, 1877, 1880, 1883; +third edition, 1887; reprinted 1891, 1893 (twice), 1895, 1899. + +"Essays Selected from Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews." First +edition, 1871; reprinted 1874, 1877. + +"Manual of the Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals," 1871 (Churchill). + +"Critiques and Addresses." First edition printed 1873; reprinted 1883 +and 1890. + +"A Course of Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology." By Professor +Huxley and Dr. H.N. Martin. First edition printed 1875; second edition, +1876; reprinted 1877 (twice), 1879 (twice), 1881, 1882, 1883, 1885, +1886 (three times), 1887; third edition, edited by Messrs. Howes and +Scott, 1887; reprinted 1889, 1892, 1898. + +"American Addresses." First edition printed 1877; reprinted 1886. + +"Anatomy of Invertebrated Animals," 1877. + +"Physiography." First edition, 1877; reprinted 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, +1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885 (three times), 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, +1893, 1897. + +"Hume." English Men of Letters Series. First edition printed 1878; +reprinted 1879 (twice), 1881, 1886, 1887, 1895. + +"The Crayfish: an Introduction to the Study of Zoology," 1879. + +"Evolution and Ethics." First edition printed 1893; reprinted 1893 +(three times); second edition, 1893 third edition, 1893; reprinted 1894. + +"Introductory Science Primer." First edition printed 1880; reprinted +1880, 1886, 1888, 1889 (twice), 1893, 1895, 1899. + +"Science and Culture, and other Essays." First edition printed 1881; +reprinted 1882, 1888. + +"Social Diseases and Worse Remedies." First edition printed 1891; +reprinted, with additions, 1891 (twice). + +"Essays on some Controverted Questions." Printed in 1892. + +Collected Essays. Volume 1. "Method and Results." First edition printed +1893; reprinted 1894, 1898. + +Volume 2. "Darwiniana." First edition printed 1893; reprinted 1894. + +Volume 3. "Science and Education." First edition printed 1893; +reprinted 1895. + +Volume 4. "Science and Hebrew Tradition." First edition printed 1893; +reprinted 1895, 1898. + +Volume 5. "Science and Christian Tradition." First edition printed +1894; reprinted 1895, 1897. + +Volume 6. "Hume, with Helps to the Study of Berkeley." First edition +printed 1894; reprinted 1897. + +Volume 7. "Man's Place in Nature." First printed for Macmillan and Co. +in 1894; reprinted 1895, 1897. + +Volume 8. "Discourses, Biological and Geological." First edition +printed 1894; reprinted 1896. + +Volume 9. "Evolution and Ethics and other Essays." First edition +printed 1894; reprinted 1895, 1898. + +"Scientific Memoirs," volume 1 printed 1898, volume 2 printed 1899, +volume 3 1901, volume 4 1902. + + +SCIENTIFIC MEMOIRS. + +"On a Hitherto Undescribed Structure in the Human Hair Sheath," "London +Medical Gazette" 1 1340 (July 1845). + +"Examination of the Corpuscles of the Blood of Amphioxus Lanceolatus," +"British Association Report" (1847), part 2 95; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Description of the Animal of Trigonia," "Proceedings of the Zoological +Society" volume 17. (1849), 30-32; also in "Annals and Magazine of +Natural History" 5 (1850), 141-143; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the Family of the Medusae," +"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (1849), part 2 413; +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Notes on Medusae and Polypes," "Annals and Magazine of Natural +History" 6 (1850), 66, 67; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Observations sur la Circulation du Sang chez les Mollusques des Genres +Firole et Atlante." (Extraites d'une lettre adressee a M. +Milne-Edwards.) "Annales des Sciences Naturelles" 14 (1850), 193-195; +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Observations upon the Anatomy and Physiology of Salpa and Pyrosoma," +"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (1851) part 2 +567-594; also in "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" 9 (1852), +242-244; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Remarks upon Appendicularia and Doliolum, two Genera of the Tunicata," +"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" (1851), part 2 +595-606; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Zoological Notes and Observations made on board H.M.S. "Rattlesnake" +during the years 1846-1850" "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" 7 +series 2. (1851), 304-306, 370-374; volume 8 433-442: "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"Observations on the Genus Sagitta," "British Association Report" +(1851) part 2 77, 78 (sectional transactions); "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"An Account of Researches into the Anatomy of the Hydrostatic +Acalephae," "British Association Report" (July 1851) part 2 78-80 +(sectional transactions); "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Description of a New Form of Sponge-like Animal," "British Association +Report" (July 1851) part 2 80 (sectional transactions); "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"Report upon the Researches of Professor Muller into the Anatomy and +Development of the Echinoderms" "Annals and Magazine of Natural +History" series 2 volume 8 (1851) 1-19; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Ueber die Sexualorgane der Diphydae und Physophoridae" Muller's +"Archiv fur Anatomie, Physiologie, und Wissenschaftliche Medicin" +(1851) 380-384. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Lacinularia Socialis: A Contribution to the Anatomy and Physiology of +the Rotifera," "Transactions of the Micr. Society" London, new series 1 +(1853) 1-19; (Read December 31, 1851). "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Upon Animal Individuality," "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 1 +(1851-54), 184-189. (Abstract of a Friday evening discourse delivered +on 30th April 1852.) "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Morphology of the Cephalous Mollusca, as Illustrated by the +Anatomy of certain Heteropoda and Pteropoda collected during the voyage +of H.M.S. 'Rattlesnake' in 1846-50" "Philosophical Transactions of the +Royal Society" 143 (1853) part 1 29-66. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Researches into the Structure of the Ascidians," "British Association +Report" (1852) part 2 76-77. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Anatomy and Development of Echinococcus Veterinorum" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" 20 (1852) 110-126. "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Identity of Structure of Plants and Animals"; Abstract of a +Friday evening discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on April +15, 1853; "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 1 (1851-54) 298-302; +"Edinburgh New Phil. Journal" 53 (1852) 172-177. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Observations on the Existence of Cellulose in the Tunic of Ascidians" +"Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 1 1853; "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Development of the Teeth, and on the Nature and Import of +Nasmyth's 'Persistent Capsule'" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 1 1853. +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"The Cell-Theory (Review)" "British and For. Med. Chir. Review" 12 +(1853) 285-314. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Vascular System of the Lower Annulosa" "British Association +Report" (1854) part 2 page 109. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Common Plan of Animal Forms" (Abstract of a Friday evening +discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on May 12, 1854.) +"Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 1 (1851-54) 444-446. "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Structure and Relation of the Corpuscula Tactus (Tactile +Corpuscles or Axile Corpuscles) and of the Pacinian Bodies" "Quarterly +Journal Micr. S." 2 (1853) 1-7. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Ultimate Structure and Relations of the Malpighian Bodies of +the Spleen and of the Tonsillar Follicles" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." +2 (1854) 74-82. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On certain Zoological Arguments commonly adduced in favour of the +Hypothesis of the Progressive Development of Animal Life in Time." +(Abstract of a Friday evening discourse delivered on April 20, 1855.) +"Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 2 (1854-58) 82-85. "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"On Natural History as Knowledge, Discipline, and Power" "Royal +Institution Proceedings" 2 (1854-58) 187-195. (Abstract of a discourse +delivered on Friday, February 15, 1856.) "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Present State of Knowledge as to the Structure and Functions of +Nerve" "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 2 (1854-58) 432-437. +(Abstract of a discourse delivered on Friday, May 15, 1857.) +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +(Translation) "On Tape and Cystic Worms" von Siebold (1857) for the +Sydenham Society. + +"Contributions to Icones Zootomicae" by Victor Carus (1857). + +"On the Phenomena of Gemmation" (Abstract of a discourse delivered on +Friday, May 21, 1858.) "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 2 +(1854-58) 534-538; "Silliman's Journal" 28 (1859) 206-209. "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"Contributions to the Anatomy of the Brachiopoda" "Proceedings of the +Royal Society" 7 (1854-55) 106-117; 241, 242. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On Hermaphrodite and Fissiparous Species of Tubicolar Annelidae +(Protula Dysteri)" "Edin. New Phil. Journal" 1 (1855) 113-129. +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Structure of Noctiluca Miliaris" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 3 +(1855) 49-54. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Enamel and Dentine of the Teeth" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 3 +(1855) 127-130. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Memoir on Physalia" "Proceedings of the Linnean Society" 2 (1855) 3-5. +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Anatomy of Diphyes, and on the Unity of Composition of the +Diphyidae and Physophoridae, etc." "Proceedings of the Linnean Society" +2 (1855) 67-69. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Tegumentary Organs" "The Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology" edited +by Robert B. Todd, M.D., F.R.S. (The fascicules containing this article +were published between August 1855 and October 1856.) "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Method of Palaeontology" "Annals and Magazine of Natural +History" 18 (1856) 43-54. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Crustacean Stomach" "Journal Linnean Society" 4 1856. (Never +finally written.) + +"Observations on the Structure and Affinities of Himantopterus" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 12 (1856) 34-37. +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Further Observations on the Structure of Appendicula Flabellum +(Chamisso)" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 4 (1856) 181-191. "Scientific +Memoirs" 1. + +"Note on the Reproductive Organs of the Cheilostome Polyzoa" "Quarterly +Journal Micr. S." 4 (1856) 191, 192. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Description of a New Crustacean (Pygocephalus Cooperi, Huxley) from +the Coal-measures" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 13 +(1857) 363-369. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On Dysteria, a New Genus of Infusoria" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 5 +(1857) 78-82. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Review of Dr. Hannover's Memoir: "Ueber die Entwickelung und den Bau +des Saugethierzahns" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 5 (1857) 166-171. +"Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Letter to Mr. Tyndall on the Structure of Glacier Ice" "Phil. +Magazine" 14 (1857) 241-260. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On Cephalaspis and Pteraspis" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological +Society" 14 (1858) 267-280. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"Observations on the Genus Pteraspis" "British Association Report" +(1858) part 2 82, 83. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On a New Species of Plesiosaurus (P. Etheridgii) from Street, near +Glastonbury; with Remarks on the Structure of the Atlas and the Axis +Vertebrae and of the Cranium in that Genus" "Quarterly Journal of the +Geological Society" 14 (1853) 281-94. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Theory of the Vertebrate Skull" "Proceedings of the Royal +Society" 9 (1857-59) 381-457; "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" +3 (1859) 414-39. "Scientific Memoirs" 1. + +"On the Structure and Motion of Glaciers" "Philosophical Transactions +of the Royal Society" 147 (1857) 327-346. (Received and read January +15, 1857.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Agamic Reproduction and Morphology of Aphis" "Transactions of +the Linnean Society" 22 (1858) 193-220, 221-236. (Read November 5, +1857.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Some Points in the Anatomy of Nautilus Pompilius" "Journal of the +Linnean Society" 3 (1859) (Zoology) 36-44. (Read June 3, 1858.) +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Persistent Types of Animal Life" "Proceedings of the Royal +Institution of Great Britain" 3 (1858-62) 151-153. (Friday, June 3, +1859.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Stagonolepis Robertsoni (Agassiz) of the Elgin Sandstones; and +on the Recently Discovered Footmarks in the Sandstones of Cummingstone" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 15 (1859) 440-460. +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Some Amphibian and Reptilian Remains from South Africa and +Australia" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 15 (1859) +642-649. (Read March 3, 1859.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On a New Species of Dicynodon (D. Murrayi) from near Colesberg, South +Africa; and on the Structure of the Skull in the Dicynodonts" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 15 (1859) 649-658. (Read +March 23, 1859.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Rhamphorhynchus Bucklandi, a Pterosaurian from the Stonesfield +Slate" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 15 (1859) 658-670. +(Read March 23, 1859.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On a Fossil Bird and a Fossil Cetacean from New Zealand" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 15 (1859) 670-677. (Read March 23, +1859.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Dermal Armour of Crocodilus Hastingsiae" "Quarterly Journal of +the Geological Society" 15 (1859) 678-680. (Read March 23, 1859.) +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"British Fossils" part 1 "On the Anatomy and Affinities of the Genus +Pterygotus" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom" +Monograph 1 (1859) 1-36. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"British Fossils" part 2. "Description of the Species of Pterygotus" by +J.W. Salter, F.G.S., A.L.S., "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the +United Kingdom" Monograph 1 (1859) 37-105. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Dasyceps Bucklandi (Labyrinthodon Bucklandi, Lloyd)" "Memoir of the +Geological Survey of the United Kingdom" (1859) 52-56. "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"On a Fragment of a Lower Jaw of a Large Labyrinthodont from +Cubbington" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom" +(1859) 56-57. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Observations on the Development of Some Parts of the Skeleton of +Fishes" "Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 7 (1859) 33-46. "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Dermal Armour of Jacare and Caiman, with Notes on the Specific +and Generic Characters of Recent Crocodilia" "Journal of the Linnean +Society" 4 (1860) (Zoology) 1-28. (Read February 15, 1859.) "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Anatomy and Development of Pyrosoma" "Transactions of the +Linnean Society" 23. (1862) 193-250. (Read December 1, 1859.) +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Oceanic Hydrozoa" "Ray Society" (1859). + +"On Species and Races, and Their Origin" (1860) "Proceedings of the +Royal Institution" 3 (1858-62) 195-200; "Annals and Magazine of Natural +History" 5 (1860) 344-346. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Structure of the Mouth and Pharynx of the Scorpion" "Quarterly +Journal Micr. S." 8 (1860) 250-254. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Nature of the Earliest Stages of the Development of Animals" +"Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 3 (1858-62) 315-317. (February +8, 1861.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On a New Species of Macrauchenia (M. Boliviensis)" "Quarterly Journal +of the Geological Society" 17 (1861) 73-84. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Pteraspis Dunensis (Archaeoteuthis Dunensis, Romer)" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 17 (1861) 163-166. "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"Preliminary Essay upon the Systematic Arrangement of the Fishes of the +Devonian Epoch" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom" +"Figures and Descriptions of British Organic Remains" (1861 Decade x) +41-46. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Glyptolaemus Kinnairdi" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the United +Kingdom" "Figures and Descriptions of British and Organic Remains" +(1861 Decade x) 41-56. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Phaneropleuron Andersoni" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the +United Kingdom" "Figures and Descriptions of British Organic Remains" +(1861 Decade x) 47-49. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Zoological Relations of Man with the Lower Animals" "Natural +History Review" (1861) 67-84. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Brain of Ateles Paniscus" "Proceedings of the Zoological +Society" (1861) 247-260. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On Fossil Remains of Man" "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" +(1858-62) 420-422. (February 7, 1862.) "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Anniversary Address to the Geological Society, 1862" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 18 (1862) 40-54. See also in list of +Essays "Geological Contemporaneity, etc." "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the New Labyrinthodonts from the Edinburgh Coalfield" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 18 (1862) 291-296. "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"On a Stalk-eyed Crustacean from the Carboniferous Strata near Paisley" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 18 (1862) 420-422. +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Premolar Teeth of Diprotodon, and on a New Species of that +Genus (D. Australis)" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 18 +(1862) 422-427. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Description of a New Specimen of Glyptodon recently acquired by the +Royal College of Surgeons" "Proceedings of the Royal Society" 12 +(1862-63) 316-326. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Letter on the Human Remains found in Shell-mounds" (June 28, 1862) +"Transactions of the Ethnological Society" 2. (1863) 265-266. +"Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"Description of Anthracosaurus Russelli, a New Labyrinthodont from the +Lanarkshire Coal-field" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" +19 (1863) 56-68. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Form of the Placenta in the Cape Hyrax" "Proceedings of the +Zoological Society" (1863) page 237. (The paper was never written in +full; the materials and an unfinished drawing of the membranes are at +South Kensington.) + +"Further Remarks upon the Human Remains from the Neanderthal" "Natural +History Review" (1864) 429-446. "Scientific Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Angwantibo (Arctocebus Calabarensis, Gray) of Old Calabar" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1864) 314-335. "Scientific +Memoirs" 2. + +"On the Structure of the Skull of Man, the Gorilla, the Chimpanzee, and +the Orang-Utan, during the period of the first dentition" "Proceedings +of the Zoological Society" (1864) page 586. (This paper was never +written in full, but was incorporated in "Man's Place in Nature.") + +"On the Cetacean Fossils termed 'Ziphius' by Cuvier, with a Notice of a +New Species (Belemnoziphius Compressus) from the Red Crag" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 20 (1864) 388-396. "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Structure of the Belemnitidae" "Memoir of the Geological Survey +of the United Kingdom" Monograph 2 (1864). "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Osteology of the Genus Glyptodon" (1864) "Philosophical +Transactions of the Royal Society" 155 (1865) 31-70. "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Structure of the Stomach in Desmodus Rufus" "Proceedings of the +Zoological Society" (1865) 386-390. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On a Collection of Vertebrate Fossils from the Panchet Rocks, +Ranigunj, Bengal" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of India"; +"Palaeontologica Indica" series 4; "Indian Pretertiary Vertebrata" 1 +(1865-85). "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Methods and Results of Ethnology" (1865) "Proceedings of the +Royal Institution" 4 (1866) 460-463. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. See also +"Collected Essays" 7. + +"Explanatory Preface to the Catalogue of the Palaeontological +Collection in the Museum of Practical Geology" (1865). "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. See "Principles and Methods of Paleontology" 1869. + +"On Two Extreme Forms of Human Crania" "Anthropological Review" 4 +(1866) 404-406. + +"On a Collection of Vertebrate Remains from the Jarrow Colliery, +Kilkenny, Ireland" "Geological Magazine" 3 (1866) 165-171. "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"On some Remains of Large Dinosaurian Reptiles from the Stormberg +Mountains, South Africa" "Phil. Magazine" 32 (1866) 474-475; "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 23 (1867) 1-6. "Scientific Memoirs" +3. + +"On a New Specimen of Telerpeton Elginense" (1866) "Quarterly Journal +of the Geological Society" 23 (1867) 77-84. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Notes on the Human Remains of Caithness" (1866) in the "Prehistoric +Remains of Caithness" by S. Laing. + +"On Two Widely Contrasted Forms of the Human Cranium" "Journal of +Anatomy and Physiology" 1 (1867) 60-77. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On Acanthopholis Horridus, a New Reptile from the Chalk-Marl" +"Geological Magazine" 4 (1867) 65-67. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Classification of Birds; and on the Taxonomic Value of the +Modifications of certain of the Cranial Bones observable in that Class" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1867) 415-472. "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Animals which are most nearly Intermediate between Birds and +Reptiles" "Annals and Magazine of Natural History" 2 (1868) 66-75. +"Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On Saurosternon Bainii and Pristerodon M'Kayi, two New Fossil +Lacertilian Reptiles from South Africa" "Geological Magazine" 5 (1868) +201-205. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Reply to Objections on my Classification of Birds" "Ibis" 4 (1868) +357-362. + +"On the Form of the Cranium among the Patagonians and Fuegians, with +some Remarks upon American Crania in general" "Journal of Anatomy and +Physiology" 2 (1868) 253-271. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On some Organisms living at Great Depths in the North Atlantic Ocean" +"Quarterly Journal Micr. S." 8 (1868) 203-212. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Remarks upon Archaeopteryx Lithographica" "Proceedings of the Royal +Society" 16 (1868) 243-248. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Classification and Distribution of the Alectoromorphae and +Heteromorphae" "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1868) 294-319. +"Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On Hyperodapedon" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 25 +(1869) 138-152. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On a New Labyrinthodont (Pholiderpeton Scutigerum) from Bradford" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 25 (1869) 309-310. +"Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Upper Jaw of Megalosaurus" "Quarterly Journal of the Geological +Society" 25 (1869) 311-314. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Principles and Methods of Paleontology" (Written in 1865 as the +Introduction to the Collection of Fossils at Jermyn Street.) +"Smithsonian Report" (1869) 363-388. See above (1865). + +"On the Representatives of the Malleus and the Incus of Mammalia in the +Other Vertebrata" "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1869) +391-407. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Address to the Geological Society, 1869" "Quarterly Journal of the +Geological Society" 25 (1869) 28-53. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Ethnology and Archaeology of India" (Opening Address of the +President, March 9, 1869.) "Journal of the Ethnological Society of +London" 1 (1869) 89-93. (Delivered March 9, 1869.) "Scientific Memoirs" +3. + +"On the Ethnology and Archeology of North America" (Address of the +President, April 13, 1869.) "Journal of the Ethnological Society of +London" 1 (1869) 218-221. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On Hypsilophodon Foxii, a New Dinosaurian from the Wealden of the Isle +of Wight" (1869) "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 26 +(1870) 3-12. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Further Evidence of the Affinity between the Dinosaurian Reptiles and +Birds" (1869) "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 26 (1870) +12-31. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Classification of the Dinosauria, with Observations on the +Dinosauria of the Trias" (1869) "Quarterly Journal of the Geological +Society" 26 (1870) 32-50. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Ethnology of Britain" "Journal of the Ethnological Society of +London" 2 (1870) 382-384. (Delivered May 10, 1870). "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"The Anniversary Address of the President" "Journal of the Ethnological +Society of London" new series 2 (1870) 16-24 (May 24, 1870). +"Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of +Mankind" "Journal of the Ethnological Society of London" new series 2 +(1870) 404-412. (June 7, 1870.) "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On a New Labyrinthodont from Bradford" With a Note on its Locality and +Stratigraphical Position by Louis C. Miall "Phil. Magazine" 39 (1870) +385. + +"Anniversary Address to the Geological Society, 1870" "Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society" 26 (1870) 29-64. ("Paleontology and +the Doctrine of Evolution") "Collected Essays" 8 340. "Scientific +Memoirs" 3. + +"Address to the British Association at Liverpool" "British Association +Report" 40 (1870) 73-89. "Collected Essays" 8. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Milk Dentition of Palaeotherium Magnum" "Geological Magazine" 7 +(1870) 153-155. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Triassic Dinosauria" "Nature" 1 (1870) 23-24. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On the Maxilla of Megalosaurus" "Phil. Magazine" 39 (1870) 385-386. + +"On the Relations of Penicillium, Torula, and Bacterium" "Quarterly +Journal Micr. S." 10 (1870) 355-362. (A Report by another hand of an +Address given at the British Association, the views expressed in which +were afterwards set aside.) "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"On a Collection of Fossil Vertebrata from the Jarrow Colliery, County +of Kilkenny, Ireland" "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy" 24 +(1871) 351-370. + +"Yeast" "Contemporary Review" December 1871. "Scientific Memoirs" 3. + +"Note on the Development of the Columella Auris in the Amphibia" +"British Association Report" 1874 (section) 141-142; "Nature" 11 (1875) +68-69. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Structure of the Skull and of the Heart of Menobranchus +Lateralis" "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1874) 186-204. +"Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History" "Nature" +10 (1874) 362-366. See also list of Essays. + +"Preliminary Note upon the Brain and Skull of Amphioxus Lanceolatus" +(1874) "Proceedings of the Royal Society" 23 (1875). "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Bearing of the Distribution of the Portio Dura upon the +Morphology of the Skull" (1874) "Proceedings of the Cambridge Phil. +Society" 2 (1876) 348-349. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Classification of the Animal Kingdom" (1874) "Journal of the +Linnean Society" (Zoology) 12 (1876) 199-226. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Recent Work of the 'Challenger' Expedition, and its Bearing on +Geological Problems" "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 7 (1875) +354-357. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On Stagonolepis Robertsoni, and on the Evolution of the Crocodilia" +"Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society" 31 (1875) 423-438. +"Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Contributions to Morphology. Ichthyopsida.--Number 1. On Ceradotus +Forsteri, with Observations on the Classification of Fishes" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1876) 24-59. "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Position of the Anterior Nasal Apertures in Lepidosiren" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1876) 180-181. "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Nature of the Cranio-Facial Apparatus of Petromyzon" "Journal +of Anatomy and Physiology" 10 (1876) 412-429. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Border Territory between the Animal and the Vegetable Kingdoms" +(1876) "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 8 (1879) 28-34. +"Macmillan's Magazine" 33 373-384. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Evidence as to the Origin of Existing Vertebrate Animals" +"Nature" 13 (1876) 388-389, 410-412, 429-430, 467-469, 514-516; 14 +(1876) 33-34. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Crocodilian Remains in the Elgin Sandstones, with remarks on the +Ichnites of Cummingstone" "Memoir of the Geological Survey of the +United Kingdom" Monograph 3 1877 (58 pages and 16 plates). "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Study of Biology" "Nature" 15 (1877) 219-224; "American +Naturalist" 11 (1877) 210-221. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Geological History of Birds" (March 2, 1877) "Proceedings of +the Royal Institution" 8 347. [The substance of this paper is contained +in the "New York Lectures on Evolution" 1876; see page 440.] + +"Address to the Anthropological Department of the British Association, +Dublin, 1878. Informal Remarks on the Conclusions of Anthropology" +"British Association Report" 1878 573-578. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Classification and the Distribution of the Crayfishes" +"Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1878) 752-788. "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"On a New Arrangement for Dissecting Microscopes" (1878) the +President's Address "Journal of the Quekett Micr. Club" 5 (1878-79) +144-145. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"William Harvey" (1878) "Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 8 (1879) +485-500. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Characters of the Pelvis in the Mammalia, and the Conclusions +respecting the Origin of Mammals which may be based on them" +"Proceedings of the Royal Society" 28 (1879) 295-405. "Scientific +Memoirs" 4. + +"Sensation and the Unity of Structure of Sensiferous Organs" (1879) +"Proceedings of the Royal Institution" 9 (1882) 115-124. See also +"Collected Essays" 6. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The President's Address" (July 25, 1879) "Journal of the Quekett Micr. +Club" 5 (1878-79) 250-255. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On certain Errors respecting the Structure of the Heart, attributed to +Aristotle" (1879) "Nature" 21 (1880) 1-5. See also "Science and +Culture". "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Epipubis in the Dog and Fox" "Proceedings of the Royal Society" +30 (1880) 162-163. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Coming of Age of 'The Origin of Species'" (1880) "Proceedings of +the Royal Institution" 9 (1882) 361-368. See also "Collected Essays" 2. +"Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Cranial and Dental Characters of the Canidae" "Proceedings of +the Zoological Society" (1880) 238-288. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Application of the Laws of Evolution to the Arrangement of the +Vertebrata, and more particularly of the Mammalia" "Proceedings of the +Zoological Society" (1880) 649-662. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Herring" "Nature" 23 (1881) 607-613. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Address to the International Medical Congress" London 1881--"The +Connection of the Biological Sciences with Medicine" "Nature" 24 (1881) +342-346. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Rise and Progress of Paleontology" "Nature" 24 (1881) 452-455. +"Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"A Contribution to the Pathology of the Epidemic known as the 'Salmon +Disease'" (February 21, 1882) "Proceedings of the Royal Society" 33 +(1882) 381-389. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On the Respiratory Organs of Apteryx" "Proceedings of the Zoological +Society" (1882) 560-569. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On Saprolegnia in Relation to the Salmon Disease" "Quarterly Journal +Micr. S." 22 (1882) 311-333 (reprinted from the 21st Annual Report of +H.M. Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries). "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"On Animal Forms" being the Rede Lecture for 1883; "Nature" 28 page 187. + +"Address delivered at the Opening of the Fisheries Exhibition at South +Kensington, 1883." + +"Contributions to Morphology. Ichthyopsida.--Number 2. On the Oviducts +of Osmerus; with Remarks on the Relations of the Teleostean with the +Ganoid Fishes" "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" (1883) 132-139. +"Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Oysters and the Oyster Question" (1883) "Proceedings of the Royal +Institution" 10 (1884) 336-358. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Preliminary Note on the Fossil Remains of a Chelonian Reptile, +Ceratochelys Sthenurus, from Lord Howe's Island, Australia" +"Proceedings of the Royal Society" 46 (1887) 232-238. (Read March 31, +1887.) "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"The Gentians: Notes and Queries" (April 7, 1887) "Journal of the +Linnean Society" (Botany) 24 (1888) 101-124. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Further Observations on Hyperodapedon" "Quarterly Journal of the +Geological Society" 43 (1878) 675-693. "Scientific Memoirs" 4. + +"Owen's Position in the History of Anatomical Science" see page 443. + + +APPENDIX 4. + +HONOURS, DEGREES, SOCIETIES, ETC. +(This list has been compiled from such diplomas and letters as I found +in my father's possession.) + +ORDER: + +Norwegian Order of the North Star, 1873. + +DEGREES, ETC.: + +Oxford--Hon. D.C.L. 1885. +Cambridge--Hon. LL.D. 1879. +--Rede Lecturer, 1883. +London--First M.B. and Gold Medal, 1845. +--Examiner in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy; 1857. +--Member of Senate, 1883. +Edinburgh--Hon. LL.D. 1866. +Aberdeen--Lord Rector, 1872. +Dublin--Hon. LL.D. 1878. +Breslau--Hon. Ph.D. and M.A. 1861. +Wurzburg--Hon. M.D. 1882. +Bologna--Hon. M.D. 1888. +Erlangen--Hon. M.D. 1893. + +SOCIETIES--LONDON: + +Royal, 1851. +--Sec. 1872-81. +--Pres. 1883-85. +--Royal Society's Medal, 1852. +--Copley Medal, 1888. +--Darwin Medal, 1894. +Linnean, 1858. +--Linnean Medal, 1890. +Geological, 1856. +--Sec. 1859-62. +--Pres. 1869-70. +--Wollaston Medal, 1876. +Zoological, 1856. +Odontological, 1863. +Ethnological, 1863. +--Pres. 1868-70. +Anthropological Institute, 1870. +Medico-Chirurgical, Hon. Memb. 1868. +Medical, Hon. Memb. 1873. +Literary, 1883. +Silver Medal of the Apothecaries' Society for Botany, 1842. +Royal College of Surgeons, Member, 1862. +--Fellow, 1883. +--Hunterian Professor, 1863-69. +St. Thomas's Hospital, Lecturer in Comparative Anatomy, 1854. +British Association for the Advancement of Science, Pres. 1870. +--Pres. of Section D, 1866. +Royal Institution, Fullerian Lecturer, 1863-67. +British Museum, Trustee, 1888. +Quekett Microscopical Club, President, 1878-79. + + +SOCIETIES--PROVINCIAL, COLONIAL AND INDIAN: + +Dublin University Zoological and Botanical Association; Corr. Member, +1859. +Liverpool Literary and Philosophic Society, Hon. Memb. 1870. +Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Hon. Memb. 1872. +Odontological Society of Great Britain, 1862. +Royal Irish Academy, Hon. Memb. 1874. +Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Hon. Memb. 1875. +Royal Society of Edinburgh, British Hon. Fellow, 1876. +Glasgow Philosophical Society, Hon. Memb. 1876. +Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth, Hon. Memb. 1876. +Cambridge Philosophical Society, Hon. Memb. 1871. +Hertfordshire Natural History Society, Hon. Memb. 1883. +Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, Hon. Memb. 1886. +New Zealand Institute, Hon. Memb. 1872. +Royal Society of New South Wales, Hon. Memb. 1879, Clarke Medal, 1880. + + +FOREIGN SOCIETIES: + +International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archeology, +Corr. Memb. 1867. +International Geological Congress (Pres.) 1888. + +AMERICA: + +Academy of the Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Corr. Memb. 1859; +Hayden Medal, 1888. +Odontographic Society of Pennsylvania, Hon. Memb. 1865. +American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, 1869. +Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, Hon. Memb. 1873. +New York Academy of Sciences, Hon. Memb. 1876. +Boston Society of Natural History, Hon. Memb. 1877. +National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., Foreign Associate, 1883. +American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Hon. Memb. 1883. + +AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: + +Konigliche Kaiserliche Geologische Reichsanstalt (Vienna), Corr. Memb. +1860. +K.K. Zoologische-botanische Gesellschaft in Wien, 1865. + +BELGIUM: + +Academie Royale de Medecine de Belgique, 1874. +Societe Geologique de Belgique, Hon. Memb. 1877. +Societe d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles, Hon. Memb. 1884. + +BRAZIL: + +Gabineta Portuguez de Leitura em Pernambuco, Corr. Memb. 1879. + +DENMARK: + +Royal Society of Copenhagen, Fellow, 1876. + +EGYPT: + +Institut Egyptien (Alexandria), Hon. Memb. 1861. + +FRANCE: + +Societe Imperiale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg, Corr. Memb. +1867. +Institut de France; "Correspondant" in the section of Physiology +(succeeding von Baer), 1879. + +GERMANY: + +Microscopical Society of Giessen, Hon. Memb. 1857. +Imperialis Academia Caesariana Naturae Curiosorum (Dresden), 1857. +Imperial Literary and Scientific Academy of Germany, 1858. +Royal Society of Sciences in Gottingen, Corr. Memb. 1862. +Royal Bavarian Academy of Literature and Science (Munich), For. Memb. +1863. +Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (Berlin), 1865. +Medicinisch-naturwisseflschaftliche Gesellschaft zu Jena, For. Hon. +Memb. 1868. +Geographical Society of Berlin, For. Memb. 1869. +Deutscher Fischerei-Verein, Corr. Memb. 1870. +Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte, +Corr. Memb. 1871. +Naturforschende Gesellschaft zu Halle, 1879. +Senkenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft (Frankfurt a/M.), Corr. +Memb. 1892. + +HOLLAND: + +Dutch Society of Sciences (Haarlem), For. Memb. 1877. +Koninklyke Natuurkundige Vereenigung in Nederlandisch-Indie (Batavia), +Corr. Memb. 1880. +Royal Academy of Sciences (Amsterdam), For. Memb. 1892. + +ITALY: + +Societa Italiana di Antropologia e di Etnologia, Hon. Memb. 1872. +Academia de' Lincei di Roma, For. Memb. (supplementary), 1878, +ordinary, 1883. +Reale Academia Valdarnense del Poggio (Florence), Corr. Memb. 1883. +Societa dei Naturalisti in Modena, Hon. Memb. 1886. +Societa Italiana delle Scienze (Naples), For. Memb. 1892. +Academia Scientiarum Instituti Bononiensis (Bologna), Corr. Memb. 1893. + +PORTUGAL: + +Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, For. Corr. Memb. 1874. + +RUSSIA: + +Imperial Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), Corr. Memb. 1865. +Societas Caesarea Naturae Cuniosorum (Moscow), Ordinary Member, 1870, +Hon. Memb. 1887. + +SWEDEN: + +Societas Medicorum Svecana, Ordinary Memb. 1866. + + +ROYAL COMMISSIONS: + +T.H. Huxley served on the following Royal or other Commissions:-- + +1. Royal Commission on the Operation of Acts relating to Trawling for +Herrings on the Coast of Scotland, 1862. + +2. Royal Commission to inquire into the Sea Fisheries of the United +Kingdom, 1864-65. + +3. Commission on the Royal College of Science for Ireland, 1866. + +4. Commission on Science and Art Instruction in Ireland, 1868. + +5. Royal Commission upon the Administration and Operation of the +Contagious Diseases Acts, 1870-71. + +6. Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of +Science, 1870-75. + +7. Royal Commission on the Practice of subjecting Live Animals to +Experiments for Scientific Purposes, 1876. + +8. Royal Commission to inquire into the Universities of Scotland, +1876-78. + +9. Royal Commission on the Medical Acts, 1881-82. + +10. Royal Commission on Trawl, Net, and Beam Trawl Fishing, 1884. + +*** + + +INDEX. + + +A priori reasoning. + +Abbott, Dr. E.A., on "Illusions". +--correspondence in "Times". + +Aberdeen University, Huxley rejected for chair at. +--Lord Rector of. +--Rectorial Address at. +--translated into German. +--perils of writing. + +Aberdour. + +Adamson, Professor. + +Addresses delivered under difficulties. + +"Administrative Nihilism". + +Admiralty, parsimony of, in 1846. +--their dealings with Huxley. + +Advice to would-be writer on scientific subjects. + +Agassiz, Alexander, at x Club. +--visit to. + +Agassiz, Louis, and creation. +--on glaciers. + +Agnosticism, formulated in 1860. +--controversy on. +--restated. + +Airy, Sir G.B., P.R.S. + +Albert, Prince, at British Association. + +Alcohol, use of. + +Alford, Dean, and Metaphysical Society. + +Allis, E. Phelps, jun., supports Huxley's unpublished cranial +researches. + +Allman, Dr. George J., on Huxley's leading discovery. +--President British Association, 1879. + +America, visit to. +--sight of New York. +--at Yale. +--friends. +--at Niagara. +--visits his sister. +--at Baltimore. +--lectures at New York. + +American Civil War. +--suggests article "Emancipation, Black and White". + +Amroth. + +Anglesey, Marquis of, at Wellington's funeral. + +Angus, Dr., on School Board. + +Animal motion, lecture on. + +Animals and plants. + +"Animals as Automata". +--delivered without notes. + +Anthropological Institute founded. + +Anthropological Society amalgamated with Ethnological. + +Anthropologie, Societe d', of Paris. + +Anthropomorphism. + +Ape question, at Oxford. +--papers and lectures on. +--"Punch" squib. +--at Edinburgh. +--leads to ethnological work. +--conclusion of. + +"Apologetic Irenicon". + +Appletons, and copyright. +--visit to. + +Arbitration Alliance, letter to, on the reduction of armaments and the +real causes of war. + +"Archetype" reviewed by H. Spencer. + +Argyll, Duke of, in Metaphysical Society. +--on "Law". +--reply to. +--on coral reef theories. +--further controversy with. + +Aristotle compared with Darwin. +--certain errors attributed to. +--estimate of the manuscripts of. + +Armstrong, Sir Alexander, at Haslar. + +Armstrong, Lord, visits to. +--and a Newcastle society. + +Arnold, M. +--letters to: +--a lost umbrella. +--"St. Paul and Protestantism". +--on death of his son. + +Arolla, first visit to. +--second visit to. + +Aryans, origin of. + +Ascidians, new species of. +--Doliolum and Appendicularia. +--on the structure of. +--catalogue of. + +Ashby, Mr., on sanitary work. + +Ashley, Hon. E., Vivisection Bill. + +Atavism, defence of the word. + +Athanasian Creed, anecdote. + +Atheism logically untenable. + +Athenaeum Club, elected to. + +Augustan epoch to be beaten by an English epoch. + +Automatism, Darwin suggests he should review himself on. + +Auvergne, trip in. +--glaciation in. +--prehistoric skeleton at Le Puy. + +Babbage, calculating machine, and the theory of induction. + +Bacon, influence of. +--character. + +"Baconian Induction," criticism of. +--Spedding on. + +Baer, von, influence of. +--his Copley Medal. +--his work. + +Bailey, F., at Lynton. + +Baillon, led to make fresh observations through Huxley's Gentian paper. + +Bain, Professor A. + +Balaam-Centaur. + +Balfour, Right Hon. A., critique on his "Foundations of Belief". + +Balfour, Francis. +--death of. +--obituary. +--likeness to Huxley. +--looked to as his successor. +--opinion of. + +Ball, John, with Huxley at Belfast. + +Ball, W. Platt, letter to: criticises his "Use and Disuse": advice as +to future work. + +Baptism. + +"Barriers, The Three". + +Barry, Bishop, on Huxley's work on the School Board. + +Bastian, Dr. H. Charlton, on spontaneous generation. + +Bateson, Mr., letter to: his book "On Variation" returns from +speculation to fact: natura facit saltum. + +Bathybius. +--not accepted in connection with Darwin's speculations. +--"eating the leek" about. + +Baynes, Thomas Spencer, letters to: +--Aberdeen Address. +--parsons at Edinburgh lectures. +--regime for health. +--arrangements for the "Encyclopaedia". +--articles for "Encyclopaedia". +--work on Dick Swiveller's principle. +--handwriting. +--puts aside a subject when done with. +--a Balaam-Centaur. +--Dean Stanley's handwriting. +--articles between H. and L. +--sons-in-law. +--Biology contrasted with Criticism, etc. +--reports of his American trip. +--Harvey article. + +Beale, Professor. + +Beaufort, Sir F. (Hydrographer). +--assistance from. + +Beaumont, Elie de, contradicted by nature. + +Belemnites, on. + +Bell, Thomas, ready to help. +--as man of science. +--writes official statement on the award of Royal Society Medal to +Huxley. + +Bence Jones, Dr., kindness of. +--would make the Fullerian Professorship permanent. +--friendly conspiracy. + +Bennett, Risdon, and F.R.S. + +Bentham, G., at x Club. + +Benvenuto Cellini. + +Berkeley. +--proposed book on. + +Berkeley, Rev. M.J., mycological work. + +Besant, Mrs., exclusion from University College. + +Besant, Sir W., Huxley's face. + +Bible-reading in elementary schools. + +Biological teaching, revolutionised. +--Darwin on. + +Biology, on the study of. + +Birds, distension of air-cells in flight. +--investigations into the structure of. +--classification of. +--toothed, proposed lecture on. +--geological history of. + +Birds and reptiles, relations of. + +Birmingham, address on Priestley. +--opens Mason College. + +Blackie, Professor, goes with, to Skelton's. + +Blaythwayt, R., "The Uses of Sentiment". + +Body, "a machine of the nature of an army". + +Bollaert. + +Book, a good, and fools. + +Booth, General, "Darkest England" scheme. +--compared to Law's Mississippi scheme. + +Bowman, Sir William, retiring from King's College. +--death of. + +Bradlaugh, Charles, view of. + +Bradlaugh, Miss, exclusion from University College. + +Bramwell, Sir F., on technical education. + +Brewster, Sir David. +--criticism of Darwin. + +Bright, John, speeches. + +Bristol Channel, report on the recent changes of level in. + +British Association. +--at Southampton: Huxley's first paper. +--at Ipswich. +--at Belfast, 1852. +--at Liverpool, 1853. +--at Aberdeen. +--at Oxford, 1860. +--at Cambridge, 1862. +--at Nottingham. +--science in public schools. +--President Section D. +--at Dundee: working men's lecture delivered by Tyndall. +--at Norwich. +--Bathybius. +--"A Piece of Chalk,". +--Darwinism. +--at Exeter. +--at Liverpool: Huxley President. +--at Edinburgh. +--at Belfast. +--address on Animal Automatism. +--paper on Columella auris. +--committee on vivisection. +--at Dublin. +--address on Anthropology. +--at Sheffield: Huxley "eats the leek" about Bathybius. +--at York: address on "Rise and Progress of Paleontology". +--at Plymouth, invitation for. +--at Oxford, 1894: speech on growing acceptance of evolution. + +British Museum, Natural History Collections. +--ex officio Trustee. + +Broca, P., advice as to anthropological scheme. +--language and race. + +Brodie, Sir Benjamin. + +Brodie, Professor (afterwards the second Sir B.). + +Brodie, Rev. P., letter to: local museums. + +Brodrick, Hon. G., letter to, on Linacre chair. +--visit to. +--letter to: reason for accepting P.R.S. + +Brooks, Mr. and Mrs., meeting with. + +Brown, Alfred, South African geologist. + +Brown Sequard at Oxford. + +Browning, his music. + +Bruce, John, visit to. +--in Edinburgh. + +Bruny Island. + +Bryson, Dr. + +Buchner, L. + +Buckland, Frank, succeeds as Fishery Inspector. + +Buckland, Mrs., discovers an Echinoderm. + +Buffon, on style. +--appreciation of. + +Bunbury, Sir C. + +Bunsen. + +Burnett, Sir William, Director-General Navy Medical Service. +--interviews with. +--letter to. + +Burns, John, and poem on Tennyson. + +Burton, Edward, letter to: advice against building disregarded. + +Busk, G., stays with. +--on Snowdon with. +--joint translation of Kolliker. +--x Club. + +Butler's "Analogy". + +Cabanis. + +Cairns, Professor. + +Calcutta, museum appointment. + +Calvinism in science. + +Cambridge. +--British Association at. +--Darwin's LL.D. +--Huxley's LL.D. +--Rede Lecture +--visit to. +--Harvey Tercentenary. + +Campbell, Professor Lewis. +--letters to: +--value of Mariner's testimony about the Tongans. +--Oxford, British Association at, 1894, stronghold of the priesthood in +opposing scientific method. + +Campbell, Mrs. L. +--letter to: +--hybrid gentian on a nameless island in Sils Lake. + +Canaries, trip to. + +Canino, Prince of, at British Association, Ipswich. + +Cardwell, Lord, vivisection question. + +Carlyle, influence of. +--installed Lord Rector at Edinburgh when Huxley received LL.D. +--hatred of Darwinism. +--death of. + +Carlyle, Mrs., saying about Owen. + +Carnarvon, Lord, Vivisection Bill. + +Carpenter, Rev. Estlin. +--letter to: +--acknowledges his book, "The First Three Gospels": historical basis of +Christianity: comparison of Nazarenism with Quakerism. + +Carpenter, W.B., approves of his views. +--support for F.R.S. +--dealings with, about the Registrarship of London University. +--at his marriage. +--Examiner at London University. +--at Lamlash Bay. +--and Bathybius. + +Carus, Victor, corresponds with. +--takes Wyville Thomson's lectures in 1874. + +Cassowary, rhyme. + +Cats, love for. + +Cavendish, Lord F., assassination of. + +Cell theory, review of. + +Celt question. + +"Challenger" expedition, and Bathybius. +--some results of. + +Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, asked to Royal Society dinner. + +Chambers, Robert, at Oxford, 1860. + +Chamisso, quoted. + +Chandler, Dr., apprenticed to. + +Chapman, the publisher. + +Cherubim, and terrestrial creation. + +Chess player, nature compared to a hidden. + +Chichester, Bishop of, on Huxley's search after the Ur-gentian. + +Christian dogmas. + +Christianity. +--"development" of. +--demonology of. +--historical basis of. +--comparison with Quakerism. + +Chrystal, Professor, to help in Men of Science Series. + +Church Army, answer to appeal for subscription to. + +Church, Established, and our simian origin. + +Churchill, the publisher. + +City and Guilds Institute. + +City Companies and education. + +Clark, Sir Andrew, M.D., at Haslar. +--successful treatment by. +--meets on return from Italy. +--advises retirement. +--on Clifford's illness. +--election as F.R.S. + +Clark, Sir J., help from. + +Clark, J.W., Master of the Salters Company, letter from--education. + +Clarke, Hyde. +--letters to: +--Ashantee War and ethnology: Huxley no longer attending to +anthropology. +--aim of Genesis controversy. + +Clarke, F. Le Gros, evolution and the Church. + +Clayton, N.P. +--letter to: moral duty and the moral sense: influence of Franklin and +Fox compared. + +Clergy and physical science. + +Clericalism. + +Clerk-Maxwell, to help in Men of Science Series. + +Clifford, W.K. +--his friends rally to, in his illness. +--opinion of. + +Clifford, Mrs. +--letters to: +--a difficulty. +--the P.C.: a spiritual peerage. +--human nature. + +Clodd, Edward, note on secular education. +--letters to: +--his book "Jesus of Nazareth": Bible reading. +--reply to condolence on his daughter's death. +--Positivism: will devote his remaining powers to theological questions. +--Baur's merit: proposes work on the three great myths. +--legal aspect of the "Darkest England" scheme: controversy and waste +of time. +--new edition of "Bates": alleged ignoring of distinguished men by +Royal Society. +--"Man's Place" after thirty years. +--answering letters: Kidd on Social Evolution: Lord Salisbury at Oxford. + +Cobden, Richard. +--and International College. + +"Cock Lane and Common Sense". + +Cole, Sir Henry, the humour of public affairs. + +Colenso, Bishop, Bishop Wilberforce on. + +Coleridge. + +Coleridge, Lord, and vivisection. + +"Collected Essays", review of, by Professor Ray Lankester. + +Collier, Hon. John. +--letters to: +--the "Apologetic Irenicon": art in London University. +--a pertinacious portrait painter. +--effect of influenza on personal appearance: the Romanes Lecture an +egg-dance. + +Collier, Hon. Mrs. John. +--letters to: +--a country visit. +--secretarial work: incidents of travel. +--Naples: violent changes of weather. +--secretarial work: +--Catherine of Siena. +--end of Italian trip. +--prize at the Slade School: return from Maloja. +--the Canaries. +--objects of the seashore. +--the P.C. +--the cat. +--nonsense letter. +--an Oxford training. + +Collier, W.F. +--letters to: +--proposed visit to. +--a touching mark of confidence. +--law of Deceased Wife's Sister: Shakespeare and the sexes of plants. +--the P.C. "What is honour?": a new Beatitude. +--visit to. + +Collings, E.T. +--letter to: alcohol as a brain stimulant. + +Collings, Right Hon. Jesse, his mother and the P.C. + +Commission, Medical Acts. +--report of. + +Commission, Scottish Universities. + +Commissions, Royal. +--Fisheries. +--on Science and Art instruction. +--on Science. +--on Trawling. +--Fishery, of 1883. + +Common, T., letter to: +--Nietzsche: German work and style: morality and evolution. + +Comparative anatomy, letter on. + +Comte, criticism on. +--would need re-writing. +--typical of the century? + +Comtism, defined as "Catholicism without Christianity". + +Comtists, opinion of. +--see also Positivism. + +Conditions, influence of. + +Congreve, controversy with. + +Controversy, opinion of. +--and friendship. +--exhilarating effect of. +--aim of. +--in self-defence. + +"Controverted Questions". +--labour of writing the prologue. +--elimination of the supernatural. + +Cook (editor of "Saturday Review"). + +Cooke, Dr., his brother-in-law. +--his first instruction in medicine. + +Copley Medal, awarded to Huxley. + +Corfield, R., on Clifford's illness. + +Cork, rejected for chair at. + +Cornay, Professor, acknowledgment from. + +Cornu, Professor, at x Club. + +"Cornu", the posterior. + +Courtney, Right Hon. L., at Royal Society dinner. + +Coventry, the house of Thomas Huxley. +--George Huxley returns to. + +Craniology. + +Cranks, letters from. + +Crayfish, on the. + +Creation, controversy on Genesis +--with Mr. Gladstone. + +Criticism, a compliment. + +Croonian Lecture. + +Cross, Lord, letter to: Vivisection Commission. + +Crowder, Mrs., visit to. + +Crum Brown, Professor, induces Huxley to play golf. + +Crustacea, paleozoic. + +Culture, basis of. + +Cunningham, on South American fossil. + +Cuno, language and race. + +Cuvier, his views controverted. +--and his title. +--appreciation of. + +Cuvier, the British. + +Dalgairns, Father, in Metaphysical Society. + +Dalhousie, Lord, President Royal Commission on Trawling. + +Dana, and coral reef theories. +--misunderstanding of Darwin in his obituary of Asa Gray. + +Daphnia. + +Darwin, Charles, likewise begins his career at sea. +--as man of science. +--saying about happiness and work. +--starts on the "Origin". +--effect of the "Origin". +--the species question before 1859. +--the most serious omission in the "Origin". +--Huxley his "general agent". +--his "bulldog". +--and his predecessors. +--and poetry. +--compared with Lamarck. +--and spontaneous generation. +--at x Club. +--his opinion of Dohrn. +--his generosity. +--"the cheeriest letter-writer I know." +--letter to, obtaining a Civil List pension for Wallace. +--death of. +--notice of, in "Nature". +--love for. +--intellect of. +--obituary. +--compared to Gordon. +--unveiling of statue. +--character and friends. +--influence in science. +--exposition not his forte. +--dumb sagacity of. +--legacy from A. Rich. +--his theory needs experimental proof. +--and natura non facit saltum. +--typical of the century? +--nature of his work. +--example of. +--defence of. +--Letters from: +--the decisive critics of the "Origin". +--Huxley's reservations in accepting the doctrine of the "Origin". +--on Huxley's treatment of Suarez' metaphysics: intellect of Huxley. +--conveys him a gift from his friends. +--on new biological teaching. +--on report of seance. +--automatism. +--Letters to: +--on the "Origin". +--Edinburgh lectures. +--the Cambridge British Association. +--on "Man's Place": +--Atavism. +--that his theory accounts for retrogression as well as progression. +--pressure of work. +--absorption in one kind of work, due to one's reputation and one's +children. +--"Criticisms of the 'Origin'". +--Copley Medal. +--difficulty of writing a book. +--birth of a son: work in the "Reader". +--sends booklet. +--Darwinism in Germany. +--Pangenesis. +--laziness: Hooker ill. +--memorial about Gallegos fossils. +--new edition of "Origin": Jamaica affair. +--on Positivist critics. +--visit from Darwin. +--no time to read. +--loses sight of naturalists "by grace of the dredge." +--South American fossils. +--Exeter British Association. +--societies: the Celt question. +--on Oxford D.C.L. +--on "Descent of Man and Sexual Selection". +--inconvenience of having four addresses. +--on a friend's illness. +--note for the "Descent of Man": Dohrn's Station: projected visit to +America. +--W.G. Ward's saying about Mill. +--report on spiritualistic seance. +--attack in "Quarterly". +--on vivisection. +--instructions for Polar expedition. +--on theological protest. +--his degree at Cambridge. +--"Coming of Age" of the "Origin". +--cuts out a sharp retort. +--on Wallace's pension. +--optimism and pessimism. + +Darwin, Mrs., visit to. + +Darwin, Miss E., on Huxley's books. + +Darwin, Francis. +--letter to, on the British Association Meeting of 1860. +--visit to. + +Darwin, Professor George, at seance. + +Darwin tree, the. + +Daubeny, Dr., at Oxford, 1860. + +Davies, Rev. Llewelyn, at Huxley's funeral. + +Dayman, Lieutenant, formerly of the "Rattlesnake". +--on Atlantic mud. + +De la Beche, Sir Henry. + +De Maillet. + +De Quatrefages. + +Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. + +Derby, Lord. + +Descartes' Discourse, Commentary on. + +Design, argument from. + +Devonian fishes. + +"Devonshire Man" controversy. + +Dewar, Professor, liquid oxygen. + +Dingle, Mr., at Oxford, 1860. + +Diphtheria, outbreak of. + +Docker, the scientific, letter to. +--tries to help. +--letter to: atoms and the evolution of matter. + +Dog, on the. +--projected work on. +--problems connected with. +--further work on. + +Dohrn, Dr. Anton. +--visit of. +--visit from, in 1868. +--absent from Naples on Huxley's visit. +--Letters to: +--matrimony: Tennyson: his kindness to children. +--scientific investigators and museum work: family news: criticism of +Kolliker. +--Calcutta Museum: +--Kolliker and the organon adamantinae: family news. +--a bad letter-writer: Goethe's Aphorisms: Dohrn's work and English. +--marine stations at Naples and Brighton: spontaneous generation: +Huxley, devil's advocate to speculators: a "Tochtervolles Haus." +--British Association at Liverpool: Franco-Prussian War. +--microscopes: Franco-Prussian War. +--School Board: "an optical Sadowa." +--illness of 1871. +--the visit to Naples: Ceylon Museum. +--beefsteaks and wives not to be despised. +--Ceylon Museum: his father's illness: his capacity. +--invitation to Morthoe. +--books for the Aquarium. +--the new laboratory. +--England not represented at his station: visit from von Baer: lawsuit: +Kleinenberg on Hydra. +--subscriptions for station: prefers his German to his English: +hesitation. +--his marriage: the station: Darwin's generosity. +--death of Darwin and Balfour. +--naval officers and scientific research. +--health: age: earning an honest sixpence. + +Dohrn, Dr., sen. +--visit to, at Naples. +--vigour of. + +Donnelly, Sir John, K.C.B., visit to. +--Letters to: +--vivisection. +--Fishery appointment. +--title of Dean: a wet holiday. +--retired officers in administrative posts. +--unofficial answer to official inquiries. +--proposed resignation. +--industry and age. +--health: Gordon. +--reply to arguments against resignation. +--extension of leave: festa of St. Peter's chair. +--coldness of Rome: repression of dynamiters: Roman noses. +--Gordon: public affairs: technical education: depression: carnival. +--health. +--return from Italy. +--Civil List pension. +--return in good health from Arolla: renews work at science instead of +theology. +--Science and Art examinations. +--age moderates hopes. +--Imperial Institute. +--the Irish question. +--Glion: "javelins". +--sends proof of Struggle for Existence. +--Deceased Wife's Sister Bill: hatred of anonymity. +--Stonehenge: use of Radicals: death of Smyth. +--move to Eastbourne. +--London University Commission and reform. +--the State and intermediate education. +--responsible for the Privy Councillorship. +--humour of public affairs. +--the modern martyrdom. +--faculty of forgetting. +--the scientific docker. +--death of Tyndall. +--letter from a lunatic. +--a State evening party. +--procrastination: the scientific docker: Darwin medal. +--women in public life. + +Draper, Dr. + +Drawing, Huxley's faculty for. + +Dublin, LL.D., at. + +Duncan, Dr. Matthews, visit to. + +Du Thiers, or Duthiers (both forms of the signature occur in his +letters), see Lacaze. + +Dyer, Sir W. Thiselton. +--helps in the new science teaching. +--lectures fur Huxley. +--to help in Men of Science Series. +--Marine Biological Association. +--letter from--Gentian paper. + +Dyster, Dr. +--letters to: +--scientific Calvinism. +--introduction to Kingsley and Maurice. +--refuses Edinburgh chair: coast survey. +--approaching marriage. +--popular lectures. +--man not a rational animal in his parental capacity. + +Ealing. + +Eastbourne, house at: law of nature about: origin of name. + +Echinoderms. +--on the development of. +--aim of paper. + +"Echo", article in. + +Ecker, Dr. A., on his ethnological work. + +Eckersley, W., letter to: Civil List pension. + +Eckersley, W.A., death of. + +Eckhard, Dr. + +Ectoderm and Endoderm, discovery of. + +Edinburgh, lectures at: +--on the Ape question. +--on the Physical Basis of Life. +--Fishery Exhibition. +--refuses an uncertain post at. +--refuses to succeed Forbes there. +--Natural History courses at. + +Edinburgh University, hon. degree. + +Edison, typical of the century? + +Education. +--the true end of. +--secular. +--intermediate, and the State. +--scientific, for a boy. + +Egerton, Sir Philip. +--his museum. +--visit to. +--squib on the Ape question. + +Egyptian exploration. + +Ehrenberg, suspects Bathybius. + +Eisig, assistant to Dr. Dohrn. + +"Elementary Physiology". +--new edition. + +Eliot, George. +--proposed burial in Westminster Abbey. +--Stanley on. + +Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester, in Metaphysical Society. + +Ellis, Charles, with Huxley in Egypt. + +"Emancipation, Black and White." + +English literature, teaching of, letter on. + +English Men of Science Series projected. + +Enniskillen, Lord. + +Erasmus, opinion of. + +"Erebus" and "Terror", Hooker on. + +Erichssen, Professor, on Vivisection Commission. + +Ethnological Society. +--President of. +--presidential address. +--amalgamation of two societies. + +Ethnology. +--work on. +--Sir M. Foster on. +--systematic series of photographs. +--definition of. +--attention turned away from, in 1873. + +Eton. +--new Headmaster, and future of. +--Huxley a Governor of. +--examinations. + +Europeans, alleged inferiority of senses in. + +Evans, Sir J. +--on Marine Biological Association. +--Letters to: +--getting in harness a tonic: need of rest. +--Ravenna: takes up Italian again. +--work of Royal Society Secretary. +--a growl from Italy. +--description of pleurisy. +--delay over "Spirula" and Darwin obituary. +--Copley Medal: +--Geological Congress: punnigrams. +--pliocene and miocene man: language no test of race. +--a forgotten subscription. + +Evolution, article for "Encyclopaedia". +--lectures on, at New York. +--demonstrative evidence of. +--accumulation of evidence for. +--laws of, applied to the arrangement of the Vertebrata. +--theory must have been invented by latter paleontologists. +--illustrated by the Pearly Nautilus. +--experimental. + +Evolution and morality. + +"Evolution of Theology". + +Evolutionary thought builds up as well as pulls down. + +Examinership under Science and Art Department. + +Exodus, the real story of. + +Eyre, Governor. + +Faith, the sin of. + +Falconer, Dr. Hugh. + +Family motto, tenax propositi. + +Fanning, Mrs. + +Fanning, William. +--his friend in Sydney. +--death of. + +Fanning, F., visit to. + +Faraday. +--Michael, interview with. +--and titles. +--influence in science. +--the knowledge of popular audiences. + +Farrar, Dean. +--on science in public schools. +--at Sion House meeting. + +Farrar, Rev. Professor, account of the Oxford British Association. + +Farrer, Lord. +--letters to: +--official folly: fallacies tenacious of life. +--Fishery appointment. +--Gladstone controversy: ignorance of the so-called educated classes. +--effect controversy on health. +--the Cassowary rhyme. +--his elevation to the peerage: criticism of Romanes Lecture. +--the Devil Prince of this Cosmos: a priori reasoning: the Established +Church and our simian origin: attack on the School Board compromise. +--the a priori method an anachronism: method of the Political +Economists and Eubiotics: growing hopefulness in age. +--aim of the chapter in Owen's "Life": hint for an essay on Government: +London University Reform. + +Fawcett, Professor, stays with. + +Fayrer, Sir Joseph. +--settles his career for him. +--great anthropological scheme. +--invites Huxley to Calcutta. +--ethnological photographs. +--Letters to: +--declines invitation to Calcutta. +--Indian Canidae. +--the P.C.: career due to his suggestion. + +Felixstowe. +--visits. +--Mrs. Huxley at. + +Fichte. + +Filhal, M., work on Natural Selection. + +Fish, immature. + +Fisheries. +--appointed Inspector of. +--duties. +--deep sea, require no protection. +--salmon, protection, experiments. + +Fisheries, Report on. +--old fallacies in reports. +--experimental station at Lamlash Bay. + +Fishery business. + +Fishery Exhibition. +--lesson of. +--at Norwich. +--at Edinburgh. +--in London. + +Fishes, development of the skeleton in. + +Fishmongers' Company and education. + +Fiske, John, visit to. + +FitzRoy, Admiral, Darwinism and the Bible. + +Flood myth. + +Flourens reviewed. + +Flower, Sir W.H. +--on the simian brain at Cambridge, 1862. +--on Huxley's work for Hunterian Lectures. +--curator of Natural History Collections. +--character of. +--Kingsley should get to know him. +--evolution and the Church. +--Letters to: +--examinership at College of Surgeons: Dijon museum. +--Hunterian Lectures. +--anatomy of the fox. +--Linacre professorship. +--acceptance of P.R.S. +--"Ville qui parle," etc. +--retirement. +--refuges for the incompetent: Civil Service Commissioners: treatment +by the Royal Society. +--promotion by seniority. +--university reform. +--the P.C.: Salisbury P.C.'s received by Gladstonians: kinds of +pleurisy: official patronage: illness of Owen. +--Owen's work. + +Foote case. + +Forbes, Professor Edward. +--introduction to. +--seemingly forgotten by. +--visits: support from. +--helps to F.R.S. +--his pay. +--goes to Edinburgh. +--life of the Red Lion Club. +--writes notice of Huxley. +--on Huxley's views. +--character of. +--is succeeded by Huxley. +--death of. +--Letters from: +--Huxley's "Rattlesnake" work. +--on Royal Medal. +--Letters to: +--Royal Medal. + +Forbes, Principal James. +--structure of glaciers. +--and Tyndall. + +Forel, Professor, at Arolla. + +Forster, Right Hon. W.E. +--on Bible teaching. +--vivisection at South Kensington. +--letter to. + +Foster, Sir M. +--on the spirit of Huxley's early inquiries. +--on his "Review of the Cell Theory". +--and "Theory of the Vertebrate Skull". +--on the Oxford meeting of the British Association. +--on Huxley as examiner. +--on his ethnological work. +--takes over Fullerian Lectures. +--on Huxley's work on birds and reptiles. +--on Huxley as Secretary of the Royal Society. +--takes over his lectures. +--helps in the new science teaching. +--a New Year's guest. +--on Huxley's work after 1870. +--with him at Belfast. +--to help in Men of Science Series. +--assists in preparing new edition of "Elementary Physiology". +--and London University Commission. +--"discovery" of. +--Letters from: +--retirement at sixty. +--society at Maloja. +--Letters to: +--Edinburgh lectures: vivisection: Bathybius suspected. +--official functions not his business in life. +--successor to Spottiswoode. +--reluctance to divide the Royal Society over his election as President. +--elected. +--support of debateable opinions while P.R.S. +--handwriting and anxiety. +--holiday defined. +--Science and Art examinations. +--on Senate of London University. +--obituaries of F. Balfour and Darwin. +--Royal Society anniversary. +--Egyptian exploration society. +--new edition of "Elementary Physiology". +--sensation. +--resignation of P.R.S. +--swine miracle. +--health. +--proofs: resignation: Jeremiah and dyspepsia. +--"vis inertiae". +--ordered abroad. +--Venice. +--November in Italy. +--papal Rome: health. +--depression: will turn antiquary: Royal Society Secretary. +--"Elementary Physiology", new edition: Italian archaeology: visits the +Lincei. +--preface to "Elementary Physiology": Gordon's idea of future life: +carnival. +--birthday wishes: upshot of Italian trip: looks forward to becoming a +lodge-keeper: "Elementary Physiology" published. +--returns home: continued ill-health. +--impending retirement. +--medical men and F.R.S. +--social meetings of Royal Society. +--science at Oxford. +--a scientific Frankenstein. +--visit to Ilkley. +--paleontological museum. +--renewed ill-health: scientific federation: reorganisation of +Fisheries Department. +--rejection of Home Rule Bill. +--"Huxley sulphide" at Harrogate. +--visit to Arolla: death of a visitor: British Association and +Australia: renewed desire for work. +--transference of sensation: obstinate fictions of examinees. +--Delta borings: gentians, begs specimen: distribution of. +--apology for intervention. +--Royal Society and Imperial Institute Committee. +--Science and Art examinations. +--pleurisy his Jubilee honour. +--convalescence: Marine Biological Association. +--Arolla. +--gentians and idleness. +--the P.R.S. and politics. +--at Hastings: Delta borings: Antarctic exploration. +--keeps his promise to speak at Manchester, in spite of domestic loss. +--technical education, address at Manchester. +--Hooker's work on Diatoms. +--London University reform. +--Spirula: Darwin obituary: "paper philosophers". +--peculiar stage of convalescence: "Challenger" reports. +--Darwin obituary finished: affection of the heart: an "unselfish +request". +--an amended paper compared to Tristram Shandy's breeches. +--a successor in presidency of Marine Biological Association. +--Darwin obituary satisfactory: Spirula: death of Matthew Arnold. +--open invitation to, as a friend of Huxley. +--at Maloja: Copley Medal. +--leaves Maloja. +--unable to effect a meeting. +--return home from Maloja. +--compelled to live out of London: a cuttlefish of a writer. +--climate of Eastbourne and a priori reasoning. +--children and anxiety: stays away from Royal Society dinner. +--Science and Art examinations, syllabus: successor to Huxley. +--Monte Generoso: his health, Sir H. Thompson on. +--opposition to Technical Education Bill. +--sends photograph: proposed trip to the Canaries. +--reviews of Darwin, Alpha and Omega. +--marriage and the wisdom of Solomon. +--Booth business, a wolf by the ears: Salvationists and spies. +--Physiology, Part 3: name of house: a supposed ancestor and benefit of +clergy. +--Maloja accessible to him only by balloon. +--physiological omniscience. +--unequal to public function. +--physiology untrammelled at Royal College of Science. +--Senate of London University and reform. +--Privy Councillorship, public functions and health. +--sympathy for attack on. +--Romanes Lecture: Harvey celebration: symptoms of influenza. +--weakness after influenza. +--"Nature" dinner. +--award of Darwin Medal. +--avoidance of influenza: Gordon and the African fever. +--joining the Horticultural Society. + +"Foundations of Belief", critique on. + +Fox, George. +--influence of. +--as compared with Franklin. + +Francis, Dr. William. + +Franco-Prussian War. + +Frankland, Sir Edward. +--Letters to: +--on x Club. +--Spottiswoode's illness. +--vigour of "old fogies": Mentone earthquake. +--habits of eels. +--article on "Struggle for Existence". +--on Royal Society federation scheme. + +Franklin, B., influence compared with that of Fox. + +Free thought. +--ultimate success of. +--tone of some publications. + +Fremantle, Rev. W.H. +--account of the Oxford British Association, 1860. +--controversy with, on Bible teaching. + +French, knowledge of. + +Froude, J.A. + +Fullerian Professorship, resignation. + +Galbraith, leaves "Natural History Review". + +Galileo and the Pope. + +Gallegos river, fossils at. + +Galton, Sir D., at x Club. + +Galton, F., on Committee of the "Reader". + +Geary. + +Gegenbaur, Professor. + +Geikie, Sir A., sends proofs of the Primer to. + +Gemmation, lecture on. + +Genesis. +--controversy over. +--renewed in "Times". + +Genius. +--men of, a "sport". +--as an explosive power. + +Gentians. +--study of, begun. +--continued. + +"Geological Contemporaneity". + +"Geological Reform". + +Geological Society. +--Fellow of. +--elected Secretary. + +Geological Survey, work on. + +George, H., "Progress and Poverty". + +German, knowledge of. + +German speculation, research and style. + +"Gigadibs". + +Gilman, Professor D.C. + +Glacier ice, paper on. + +Gladstone, Professor J.H., account of Huxley's work on the School Board. + +Gladstone, Right Hon. W.E. +--and Metaphysical Society. +--not an expert in metaphysics. +--the greatest intellect in Europe. +--reaction from. +--a graceful action. +--function of. +--attacks Huxley in the "Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture". +--swine miracle. +--and Parnell. +--typical of the century? +--controversy with, on Genesis. +--estimate of. +--letter on--the ordeal of public criticism. +--revived by others. +--second controversy with. + +Goethe. +--quoted. +--on "thatige Skepsis". +--his Aphorisms translated for the first number of "Nature". +--scientific insight of. + +Golf, Huxley plays. + +Goodsir, Dr. John, as man of science. + +Gordon, C.G. +--ideas and character. +--why he did not have the African fever. + +Gordon, G.W., executed by Eyre. + +Gore, Canon. + +Gosse, Edmund, anonymous reviewers. + +Gould, F.J., letters to. + +Grant, Dr. +--introduction to. +--as man of science. +--an early evolutionist. + +Grant (friend of Dr. Dohrn). + +Grant Duff, Sir M. +--letter from: +--possibilities of a political career for Huxley. +--Lord Rector of Aberdeen. + +Granville, Lord. +--letter from: +--appoints Huxley on London University Senate: anecdote of Clay, the +whist player. +--a master of polished putting down. + +Gray, Asa, misunderstanding of Darwin. +--appreciation of. + +Gray, J.E. +--introduction to. +--support from. +--a zoological whirlwind. + +Green, J.R., account of Huxley's speech at Oxford. + +Green, T.H. + +Green, of Leeds, to help in Men of Science Series. + +Greene, Professor R. + +Gregory, Sir W.H. +--with, in Egypt. +--Governor of Ceylon. + +Greswell, Rev. Richard. + +Grey, Albert, M.P., letter to, on Home Rule. + +Griffith, Mr., Secretary British Association. + +Grote, George, and titles. + +Grove, Sir G., a criticism. + +Gull, Sir W., and F.R.S. + +Gunther, Dr. + +Gutzlaff, saying of. + +Haeckel, Professor Ernst. +--his Gastraea theory, dependent on Huxley's discoveries. +--Darwinism in Germany. +--unable to attend British Association, 1866. +--and Bathybius. +--Letters to: +--on reading "Die Radiolarien". +--dissuades him from joining Arctic expedition: Darwinism: philological +evidence in ethnology. +--on his "Morphologie": controversy. +--marriage: classification of birds: handwriting. +--von Baer's Copley: reptiles and birds. +--translation of his "Morphologie": influence of children. +--notice of the "Anthropogenie": attack on Darwin in the "Quarterly": +Amphioxus and the primitive vertebrate. +--"Rattlesnake" "collection": his "Medusae" unpublished: Crayfish: +Spirula: his children. + +Hahn, Father, reminiscences of Huxley's impartiality in teaching. + +Hamilton, on the unconditioned. + +Hand, lecture on. + +Harcourt, Sir W., letter to, suppression of physiological experiment. + +Hardwicke, printer. + +Harrison, F. +--in Metaphysical Society. +--attacks agnosticism. +--controversy with: the "Apologetic Irenicon". +--attack of, philosophically borne. + +Harrison, J. letter to: science and agriculture. + +Hartington, Lord. +--science should be aided like the army and navy. +--technical education. +--letter to: Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. + +Hartismere, Lord, Vivisection Bill. + +Harvey. +--lecture on. +--article on. +--tercentenary. + +Haughton, Professor S., leaves "Natural History Review". + +Hay, Sir John, visit to, at Tangier. + +Head, Francis, "javelins". + +Healy, T., and Parnell. + +Heathorn, Henrietta Anne (see Mrs. T.H. Huxley). +--engagement. +--description of. +--remote prospect of marriage. +--arrives in England. + +Heathorn, Mrs. + +Helmholtz. + +Helps, Sir A. + +Henslow, Professor. +--death of. +--relation to Darwin. + +Herring. +--memoir on. +--experiments as to the spawning of. +--address on. + +Herschel, Sir John. + +Hesitation, no good ever done by. + +Hippocampus. + +Hird, Dr., presents testimonial to. + +Hirst, Thomas Archer. +--and x Club +--character of. +--Royal Medal. +--illness of. +--death of. + +Histology, work on. + +Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, presentation to Huxley. + +Hobhouse, Lord, Huxley secures intellectual freedom. + +Hockenhull, Swanus de, ancestor of the family of Huxley. + +Holiday, work. +--borne well. +--definition of. + +Holland, Sir Henry, on Plato. + +Home Rule, letter to A. Grey. + +Hooker, Sir J.D., his case a precedent. +--at Ipswich. +--at his marriage. +--on Snowdon with. +--relations with Darwin. +--on species. +--at Oxford, 1860. +--origin of friendship with. +--remonstrates with Huxley on excursions into philosophy. +--x Club. +--clubs not for the old. +--with Huxley in Brittany. +--President British Association. +--with Huxley in the Eifel. +--presentation to, at Liverpool. +--on Huxley's intellect. +--trouble with official chief. +--account of trip to the Auvergne. +--receives Order of the Pole Star. +--on Belfast meeting of British Association. +--unable to write obituary of Darwin. +--P.R.S. +--vigour of. +--his treatment by Government. +--friendship with. +--Royal Society's Medal. +--Huxley's love of the garden. +--Letters from: +--on his work on micro-organisms. +--Dana's obituary of Gray. +--Letters to: +--his selection for the Royal Medal. +--E. Forbes. +--his approaching marriage. +--submerged forest. +--British Museum Collections. +--science in the "Saturday Review". +--glacier paper. +--Swiss trip. +--election to Imp. Acad. Caes.: Fullerian Lectures. +--on criticism. +--approaching "Augustan Age" of English science. +--on his "Flora of Tasmania". +--on naturalists' fund. +--on "Times" review of the "Origin". +--on the Ape question. +--on "Punch" squib. +--his absence: Edinburgh lectures. +--Huxley's address at Geological Society. +--working-men's lectures, 1862: "Natural History Review". +--future leaders of science. +--christening. +--on "Natural History Review" and materialists. +--illness and death of Henslow. +--move to Kew: a poor client. +--science examinations. +--pressure of work. +--Science and Art Department examinations. +--Darwin's Copley Medal. +--on x Club. +--Medical men and F.R.S. +--distribution of gentians. +--Darwin and the "Quarterly" reviewers: chance and atheism. +--death of Symonds: gentians. +--the P.R.S. and politics. +--his Copley Medal. +--technical education address at Manchester. +--distribution of Coniferae. +--visit from H. Spencer. +--Trustee of the British Museum: story about Lowe: difficulty of the +"Origin". +--on Dana's obituary of Asa Gray: difficulty of the "Origin": primer of +Darwinismus. +--x Club breaking up. +--affection of the heart: Moseley's breakdown. +--Darwin obituary: possible senility. +--hybridism of gentians. +--visit from, before leaving London. +--a nomadic life or none: deafness: botanist should study distribution +in the Engadine. +--Copley Medal: friendship and saltwater experiences. +--x archives: a "household animal of value". +--Deceased Wife's Sister question. +--raison d'etre of clubs. +--applied science and the Royal Society. +--Academy dinner: portrait of Hooker. +--Monte Generoso: called an old gentleman: anxieties about children +when grown up: x Club subscription. +--return from Maloja. +--orchids and the influence of conditions: Balfour and R. C. University +for Ireland. +--possibility of becoming a pamphleteer. +--proposed trip to Canaries. +--Linnean Medal: trip to the Canaries. +--quietude of mind impossible, theologians keep him occupied. +--abuse over Salvation Army affair. +--Carpenter's "First Three Gospels": varieties of pleurisy: Parnell. +--Parnell and his followers. +--sick of controversy: Gladstone and his guides. +--Mr. Rich's legacy: seeks portrait of John Richardson. +--visits to Tyndall and Mrs. Darwin. +--French translation of essays on Darwinism. +--the Privy Councillorship: only remaining object of ambition. +--influenza and the x. +--funeral of Hirst. +--x Club. +--his grandchild on grown-up people and trouble. +--his sense of duty: death of Bowman. +--Owen's work: Hume and "being made a saint of". +--warning against overwork and influenza. +--at Maloja: boys and their accidents: collects essays: writes chapter +in Owen's "Life": illness of friends. +--Tyndall's death: reminiscences. +--the Antarctic continent: reminiscences of Tyndall: friendly words. +--chapter on Owen: a piece of antiquity. +--British Association at Oxford, 1894. +--Darwin Medal and "Nature" dinner. +--public speaking: a tenth volume of essays projected: returns to +philosophy: Greek and English. +--cause of giving up dissecting work: character of R. Strachey: Brian +and the brine. +--on Pithecanthropus. +--illness and constitutional toughness: Spencer and "pour le merite". +--reassures him against the pessimistic reports of his health. + +Hooker, Sir William. + +Horner, Leonard. + +Horse. +--evolution of. +--pedigree of. +--recent additions to our knowledge of the pedigree of. + +Howard, Cardinal. + +Howell, George, M.P. +--letter to: +--"a man who did his best to help the people": technical education. + +Howes, Professor G.B. +--helps in the new science teaching. +--extends text-book. +--on Huxley's drawings at South Kensington. +--unpublished work, Appendix 1. +--reminiscences. +--description of his lectures. +--Letter to: the scientific docker. + +Hubrecht, Professor A., impression of Huxley. + +Hull, lectures at. + +Humboldt, receives a Royal Medal. + +Hume. +--book on. +--his nearest approach to a work of fiction. + +Hume. +--on miracles. +--his philosophical diamonds require setting. +--on impossibilities. + +Humphry, Dr., Darwin's LL.D. + +Hunterian Lectures. +--lectures the basis of his "Manual of Comparative Anatomy". +--resigns. + +Hutton, R.H. +--on Vivisection Commission. +--and vivisection. + +Huxley, Eliza. See Scott, Mrs. + +Huxley, Ellen, marries Dr. Cooke. + +Huxley, George, of Wyre Hall. + +Huxley, George, sen. +--at Ealing. +--returns to Coventry. + +Huxley, Mrs. George, senior (Rachel Withers), mother of T.H. Huxley. +--description of. +--love for. +--her death. +--Letters to: +--accommodation at sea. +--Rio. +--Mauritius. +--description of Miss Heathorn. +--Port Essington. +--announcing his return. + +Huxley, George, jun. +--in Pyrenees with. +--lives with, for a time. +--death of. + +Huxley, Mrs. George, jun. + +Huxley, H., letter to, on his engagement. + +Huxley, James Edmund. + +Huxley, Jessie O. See also Waller, Mrs. + +Huxley, L. +--letters to: +--on winning a scholarship. +--Fishery appointment. +--on Mastership of University College, Oxford. +--assassination of Lord F. Cavendish. +--pagan and papal Rome. +--teaching of history: Siena. +--system at Eton: Lake District Defence Society. +--hon. committee of French teachers. +--will not write on politics. +--Salvation Army: Mr. Sidgwick's rebuke to the "Speaker". +--on building a house. +--on his twenty-first birthday. + +Huxley, Noel, death of. + +Huxley, Samuel. + +Huxley, Mrs. T.H. (see also H.A. Heathorn). +--his chief critic. +--Letters to: +--draws the sword. +--his lodgings. +--help from Burnett. +--successes. +--an unequal struggle. +--resolves to stay in London. +--British Association at Ipswich. +--jealousy of his rise. +--Royal Medal. +--succeeds Forbes. +--post at School of Mines. +--Coast Survey and Edinburgh chair. +--his future career. +--Aberdeen address. +--on British Association, Belfast. +--Lord Shaftesbury. +--Edinburgh lectures. +--second summer in Edinburgh. +--American trip. +--Scottish University Commission. +--spring in Edinburgh. +--article in the "Echo". +--Bright's speeches. +--greatness of Reaumur: speech on Darwin's LL.D. +--Professor Marsh's arrival. +--Fishery duties. +--International Medical Congress. +--proposed resignation. +--his stay at Ilkley. +--publication of "Science and Morals". +--effect of Ilkley. +--from Savernake. +--from the Canaries. +--ceremony of kissing hands, as P.C. +--good health in 1893. + +Huxley, Thomas, grandfather of T.H. Huxley. + +Huxley, T. H., incident at his birth. +--his mother, likeness to. +--devotion to. +--his childhood. +--faculty for drawing. +--school-days. +--early studies. +--blood-poisoning. +--learns German. +--boyish journal. +--at Rotherhithe. +--impressed by social problems. +--studies botany. +--wins a medal. +--at Charing Cross Hospital. +--his first discovery. +--interview with Faraday. +--career determined by Fayrer and Ransom. +--enters the Navy. +--joins the "Rattlesnake". +--his life on the "Rattlesnake". +--crossing the line. +--at Madeira. +--Rio. +--the first fruits of the voyage. +--at the Cape. +--Mauritius. +--Sydney. +--engaged to be married. +--importance of his work on the Medusae. +--among the Australian aborigines. +--with Kennedy. +--writes "Science at Sea". +--leaves Australia. +--impression of missionaries in New Zealand. +--at the Falklands. +--position in Navy. +--returns home. +--scientific recognition of. +--early friends in London. +--difficulties. +--elected F.R.S. +--misses the Royal Medal. +--dealings of the Government with, about his "Rattlesnake" work. +--leaves the Navy. +--list of early papers. +--stands for various professorships. +--writes for the "Westminster Review". +--delivers the Fullerian Lectures. +--succeeds Forbes. +--describes the scientific world of 1851. +--jealousy of. +--his first lecture. +--receives the Royal Society's Medal. +--morning incapacity. +--people he can deal with. +--lives by his pen. +--obtains a post in the School of Mines. +--and on the Geological Survey. +--openness of dealing with his friends, Hooker and Forbes. +--Carpenter. +--about a rejected memoir. +--refuses uncertain position at Edinburgh. +--prefers a scientific career in London. +--his principle of "having a row at starting". +--marriage. +--early work on the Invertebrata interrupted. +--paleontological work. +--British Museum Collections. +--on the value of a hundred a year. +--tries to organise a scientific review (see "Natural History Review"). +--his wish to become a physiologist. +--writes on the Cell Theory and the Skull. +--ill-health during the fifties. +--tour in Switzerland. +--ascends Mont Blanc. +--work on glaciers. +--apparent desultoriness of his earlier work. +--balance-sheet of work in 1857. +--begins the systematic consultation of foreign writers. +--recognition abroad. +--birth of his son Noel. +--his aim in life. +--death of his son. +--position in 1858. +--ambition. +--translation and lecturing. +--money and marriage. +--paleontology and anatomy. +--loss of priority through delay of "Oceanic Hydrozoa". +--his personal contributions to science. +--effect on him of the "Origin". +--"anti-progressive confession of faith". +--one of the decisive critics of the "Origin". +--"general agent" to Darwin. +--nature of his support of Darwin. +--as Darwin's bulldog +--descent of man. +--takes up ethnology. +--his philosophy of life. +--love of philosophy. +--early life. +--moves to Abbey Place. +--his handwriting. +--on matrimony. +--children. +--"Happy Family". +--fondness for music. +--health. +--expedition to Switzerland. +--Hunterian Lectures. +--the British Museum and controversy. +--exhilarating effect of controversy. +--not inconsistent with friendship. +--reputation. +--ethnological work. +--vein of laziness. +--appealed to on point of honour. +--science course for International College. +--on Indian anthropological scheme. +--Edinburgh degree. +--the writing of elementary books. +--"Elementary Physiology". +--incident at a working-men's lecture. +--trip to Brittany. +--anecdote of the cerebellum. +--on "eating the leek". +--rapidity of thought. +--influence of his style. +--the moralities of criticism. +--a good book and fools. +--turning-point in his career, 1870. +--popular view of, about 1870. +--effect of "Lay Sermons". +--growing pressure of official work. +--dubbed "Pope" by the "Spectator". +--on evolution of the horse. +--influence of Descartes, and scientific Calvinism. +--visits the Eifel. +--his degree of D.C.L. opposed. +--President British Association. +--work on micro-organisms and spontaneous generation. +--continued work on micro-organisms. +--on savagery. +--visits the slums. +--presentation to. +--commerce the civiliser. +--attacks on his Address. +--stands for the School Board. +--his programme. +--opposes proposal to open meetings with prayer. +--on Education Committee. +--religious and secular teaching. +--letters on the compromise and an "incriminated lesson". +--report of Education Committee. +--speech on Ultramontanism. +--his lasting influence. +--impression on fellow-workers. +--examinations. +--extra subjects. +--monetary assistance offered, to remain on School Board. +--sacrifices involved in. +--urged to stand for Parliament. +--Secretary of the Royal Society. +--and Appendix 2. +--on "Challenger" Committee. +--science teaching for teachers. +--continues his educational campaign. +--ideal of a State Church. +--titles for men of science. +--edits Science Primers. +--microscopes. +--at St. Andrews. +--holiday work. +--plays golf. +--on strong language. +--breakdown of 1871. +--help of friends. +--examines stores at Gibraltar. +--at Tangier. +--in Egypt. +--further treatment. +--new teaching in biology. +--view of. +--changes the course. +--writes "Elementary Instruction in Biology". +--new house in Marlborough Place. +--lawsuit. +--loan from Tyndall. +--mixed classes in Anatomy. +--Lord Rector of Aberdeen. +--trip to the Auvergne. +--as travelling companion. +--geological work. +--letters on. +--learns to smoke. +--Order of the Pole Star. +--a paternal gander. +--his reputation and the part he has to play in the world. +--scientific work after 1870. +--precious half-hours. +--duty of fulfilling a promise. +--attends Presbyterian service. +--at Belfast British Association. +--on "grasping the nettle". +--feeling about vivisection. +--grouse-murder. +--Natural History courses at Edinburgh. +--suspects himself of cowardice. +--expectation of his visit in America. +--a second honeymoon. +--position in the world of thought. +--tugs in New York harbour. +--prefers the contents of a university to the buildings. +--old opinions and new truth. +--at Niagara. +--meets his sister again. +--an address under difficulties. +--lectures on Evolution. +--prophecies fulfilled. +--the two things he really cares about. +--posthumous fame. +--ingrained laziness the bane of his existence. +--speech on Darwin's LL.D. at Cambridge. +--help to a distressed man of science. +--"bottled life". +--politics in 1878. +--projected Introductions to Zoology, Mammalia, Anthropology, and +Psychology. +--engrossed in the Invertebrates. +--affected by his daughter's illness. +--rationality and the parental capacity. +--traces diphtheria. +--learns Greek. +--Governor of Eton College. +--makes drawing part of the curriculum. +--attends no society except the Royal and Zoological. +--fifty-three a youthful age. +--resigns presidency of Association of Liberal Thinkers. +--LL.D. at Cambridge. +--becomes a "person of respectability". +--"eats the leek" over Bathybius. +--advantages of breaking a leg. +--faith in Natural Selection. +--"pretty Fanny's way". +--optimism and pessimism. +--friendship and criticism. +--further involved in official duties. +--Inspector of Fisheries. +--salary. +--duties of inspectorship described. +--conduct of meetings. +--as a companion. +--as a writer. +--as a speaker. +--life uninfluenced by idea of future recompense. +--a child's criticism on. +--refuses to go to Oxford as Linacre Professor. +--or Master of University College. +--debt to Carlyle. +--health in 1881. +--his title of Dean. +--his nunc dimittis postponed by death of F. Balfour. +--his notion of a holiday. +--queer correspondents. +--table talk of, in 1882. +--presented with the freedom of the Salters. +--President Royal Society. +--qualifications for. +--reluctance to accept. +--or create division in the Society. +--or to commit it to debateable opinions. +--art of governing the headstrong. +--a record in cab-driving. +--effect of anxiety on handwriting. +--holiday defined. +--composition of a presidential address. +--confesses himself to Tyndall. +--the thought of extinction. +--"faded but fascinating". +--increasing ill-health. +--gives up anatomy. +--looks forward to an "Indian summer". +--re-reads the "Decline and Fall". +--rumoured acceptance of a title. +--getting into harness as a tonic. +--ordered abroad. +--takes up Italian again. +--papal and pagan Rome. +--a decayed naturalist, will turn antiquarian. +--Radicals and arbitrary acts. +--not roused even by prospect of a fight. +--moral courage and picture galleries. +--retires from public life. +--illness makes him shirk responsibility. +--at Filey. +--medicinal effect of a book on miracles. +--science and creeds. +--intention to revise work on the Mollusca. +--writes "From the Hut to the Pantheon". +--at Ilkley. +--his career indirectly determined by Dr. Ransom's overworking. +--visit to Arolla. +--effect of. +--second visit to Arolla. +--begins study of gentians. +--theological work, a sort of crib-biting. +--death of a visitor at Arolla, memento of him. +--his boyhood and education compared with Spencer's. +--administrative insight. +--his only sixpence earned by manual labour. +--attack of pleurisy. +--Science and Art Department examinership. +--reply to the Duke of Argyll on pseudo-science. +--on coral reef theories. +--thinks of retiring to Shanklin. +--at Savernake. +--"An Episcopal Trilogy". +--acknowledgment of error. +--letter on Murray's theory of coral reefs. +--his own share in the work of science. +--speculation and fact. +--honorary committee of French teachers. +--supports free library for Marylebone. +--on titles of honour. +--the Irish question. +--the philosophy of age, "lucky it's no worse". +--death of his second daughter. +--paper philosophers. +--Trustee of British Museum. +--consolation for age in past service. +--the stimulus of vanity. +--depression. +--recovery at the Maloja. +--renewed work on gentians. +--receives Copley Medal. +--a centre of society at Maloja. +--receives a futile "warning". +--refuges for the incompetent. +--battles not to be multiplied beyond necessity. +--a "household animal of value". +--appearance of, in 1889. +--works at the limit of his powers. +--marriage of his youngest daughter. +--hatred of anonymity. +--settles at Eastbourne. +--controversy on Agnosticism. +--aim in controversy. +--and in philosophy. +--on suffering fools gladly. +--his autobiographical sketch. +--superiority of the male figure. +--alcohol. +--clericalism. +--second visit to Maloja. +--returns to Eastbourne. +--led to write on social questions. +--manner of work. +--practical results of wrong thinking. +--marriage and the wisdom of Solomon. +--trip to Canaries. +--Ulysses and Penelope. +--receives Linnean Medal. +--the Flood myth. +--dislike to moving. +--reply to Dr. Abbott. +--quietude of mind impossible. +--on ethnological questions possesses the impartiality of a mongrel. +--pertinacity. +--sends books to Royal College of Science. +--rational and irrational certainty. +--his aim, truth in all things. +--new house completed through Mr. Rich's legacy. +--visits Huxley Hall. +--almost indecent to be so well again. +--his garden. +--warns younger generation that the battle is only half won. +--essays translated into French. +--love for his native tongue. +--party politics and Unionism. +--a scholar, not a leader of a sect. +--backwoodsman's work. +--a full life suggests more than negative criticism. +--creation and providence. +--ethics of evolution. +--underlying truths of many theological teachings. +--moral aspiration and the hope of immortality. +--the world and comfortable doctrines. +--President of London University Reform Association. +--administration. +--appears before London University Commission. +--heads deputation to Prime Minister. +--opposes creation of an Established Church scientific. +--letter on scientific aspirations. +--on free thought ribaldry. +--made a Privy Councillor. +--the title of Right Hon. +--official recognition on leaving office. +--visit to Osborne. +--a friend's second marriage. +--friendship and funerals. +--the modern martyrdom. +--source of his ill-health. +--faculty of forgetting. +--on sacramental food. +--poem on Tennyson's funeral. +--a religion for men. +--funerals. +--his part in the memorial to Owen. +--on bearing attacks. +--proposed working-men's lectures on the Bible. +--testimony and the marvellous. +--Manx mannikins. +--home pets. +--payment for work out of the ordinary. +--on dying by inches. +--the approach of death. +--description of his personality in Lankester's review of the +"Collected Essays". +--letter from a lunatic. +--a contretemps at a public dinner. +--at Oxford, 1894. +--criticism of Lord Salisbury. +--repeated in "Nature". +--deafness. +--growing hopefulness in age. +--receives Darwin medal. +--speech. +--his "last appearance on any stage". +--characterises his work for science. +--late liking for public speaking. +--slovenly writing in science. +--lifelong love of philosophy. +--the abysmal griefs of life. +--brilliancy of talk just before his last illness. +--a meeting with a priest. +--writes article on "Foundations of Belief". +--proofreading. +--his last illness. +--passion for veracity. +--absence of dogmatism in lectures. +--children and theology. +--"Royal lies". +--his great work, securing freedom of speech. +--carelessness of priority. +--recognition of predecessors. +--honesty. +--loyalty. +--friends and intimates. +--practical side of his work. +--how regarded by working-men. +--his face described, by Professor Osborn. +--by Sir W. Besant. +--his lectures described. +--preparation for his lectures. +--ordinary day's work. +--method. +--reading. +--memory for facts, not words. +--delight in literature and art. +--foreign languages. +--recreations. +--table talk of. +--the happiness of others. +--simian characteristics of infants. +--difficulties of disproof and direct evidence. +--"Cock Lane and Common Sense". +--transient influence of false assertions. +--movement of modern philosophy. +--Plato. +--geographical teaching. +--Greeks and Jews. +--his part in controversy. +--responsibility. +--dramatic and literary faculties. +--French and English artists. +--human nature described. +--his manner of conversation. +--anecdotes from. +--home life: relations with his children. +--and grandchildren. +--nonsense letters. +--a day's work in later life. +--love of his garden. +--the "lodger". +--sustaining power of a wife's comradeship. +--field botany. + +Huxley Hall. +--visit to. + +Huxley Island. + +Huxley laboratory. + +Huxley's layer. + +Iddesleigh, Lord, letter to: Civil List pension. + +Idols, tendency to make. + +Ilkley, at. + +"Illustrious", H.M.S., ordered to join. + +Immortality. + +Immortality and the conservation of energy. + +Imperial Institute. + +Impromptu speaking. + +Incapacity, machinery needed to facilitate its descent. + +India. +--proposed visit to. +--the shortest way home from. + +Indian Empire. + +Individuality, animal. +--lecture on. + +Induction, and Babbage's calculating machine. + +Intellects, English and Italian the finest. + +International College. +--science at. + +International Medical Congress. + +Invertebrata, lectures on. + +Ireland, interest in. + +Irish affairs. +--Parnell's retirement. +--the cause of all Irish trouble. +--reason for being a Unionist. + +Irving, Sir Henry, visit from. + +Italian. + +Italy, visit to. +--moral of. + +Jamaica Committee. + +James, Margaret, grandmother of T.H. Huxley. + +Jamieson, Professor E. + +Jean Paul, "Biography of the Twins". + +Jebb, Professor, on Erasmus. + +Jenner, and F.R.S. + +Jewsbury, Miss, friendship with. + +Jex Blake, Miss. +--letters to: +--on medical education for women. +--about her examination. + +Jodrell, T.J.P. +--good advice. +--at x Club. +--wishes Huxley to visit India. + +"John Inglesant" suggests a scientific novel. + +Johns Hopkins University, inaugural address at. + +Jones, Rymer. + +Jones, Wharton. +--influence of his teaching. +--comes to his first lecture. + +Joule, Dr., his work for science. + +Jowett, B. +--silence during opposition to D.C.L. for Huxley. +--visit from. +--power of the priesthood. +--last illness of. +--Letter to: science at Oxford. + +Judd, Professor, theories of coral reefs. + +Kalisch, Dr., zoological part of his "Commentary on Leviticus" revised. + +Karslake, Sir J.B., on Vivisection Commission. + +Kelvin, Lord, on Huxley's work in support of Darwinism. + +Kennedy, E.B., his expedition. + +Kerville, H.G. de. +--letter to: "Causeries sur le Transformisme": Lamarck: atheism. + +Kidd, B., on Social Evolution. + +King, Clarence, letter to, on Marsh's collections. + +King's College, London, rejected for chair at. + +Kingsley, Charles. +--first meeting with. +--opinion of Newman. +--Letters to: +--on his son Noel's death: his philosophy. +--on species and sterility: anthropomorphism. +--intellect in man and animals: genius a "sport": Christian dogmas +criticised. +--matter and spirit. +--on prayer. +--Royal Institution lecture: superstitions of men of science: +working-men's lectures: original sin and Darwinism: whales. +--on Jamaica affair. +--on Comte. + +Kingsley, Miss, letters from Charles Kingsley. + +Kitton, J.G., letter to: home pets. + +Klein, Dr. + +Kleinenberg, Dr., on Hydra. + +Knowles, James. +--a founder of Metaphysical Society. +--Letters to: +--toning down a controversial article. +--reply to condolence on his daughter's death: a loyal friend. +--article on the "Struggle for Existence": how to kill humbug. +--reply to Kropotkin. +--refuses to write a public reply. +--article on "Natural Inequality of Men". +--a telegram and a telegraph boy. +--article on "Agnosticism". +--accused of calling Christianity sorry stuff: help to the New +Reformation. +--Christ and Christianity: Cloister scheme. +--printers' errors. +--aim in controversy: named as a temperate blasphemer: demonology: +development. +--reviling morally superior to not reviling. +--explanation with Bishop Magee ends controversy. +--the last word: miracle of Cana: Newman. +--supposed payment for "Nineteenth Century" articles. +--suggestion of article on "Foundations of Belief": difference from +Spencer's views. +--the first instalment of the article. +--the "art d'etre grandpere". +--divides the article. +--work against time on proofs. +--rest of article postponed through influenza. +--on friendship. + +Kolliker, Professor R.A. +--corresponds with. +--translation of his "Histology". +--reviewed. +--criticism of. + +Kowalesky. +--his discoveries dependent on those of Huxley. +--on Ascidians. + +Krohn, anticipates his work on Salpa. + +Lacaze Duthiers, Dr. +--corresponds with. +--on his handwriting. + +Ladder, from the gutter to the University. + +Laing, S., on Agnosticism. + +Laishly, R., cites Huxley on secular teaching. + +Lake District Defence Society. + +Lamarck. +--early study of. +--Darwin's theory not a modification of his. +--but an advance on. +--appreciation of. +--not forgotten in England. + +Lamlash Bay, naturalists' station at. + +Lang, Andrew, "Cock Lane and Common Sense". + +Language, Italian. + +Language and Race. + +Lankester, Dr., Secretary Ray Society. + +Lankester, Professor E. Ray. +--on Huxley's "Review of the Cell Theory". +--with him at Naples. +--illness of. +--on Rolleston's science teaching. +--helps in the new science teaching. +--describes lectures. +--at Dohrn's station. +--review of Huxley's "Collected Essays". +--impression of him. +--Letters to: +--Lymnaeus as periwinkles. +--battles, like hypotheses, not to be multiplied beyond necessity. +--immature fish. +--Pasteur's treatment for rabies. +--report of Pasteur meeting. +--science school at Oxford: trouble over Booth affair. +--ideal of a modern university. + +Latham, Dr. R.G. +--stands for Registrarship at London University. +--on the existence of the Established Church. + +Lathrop, Mr. and Mrs., meeting with. + +Latin and culture. + +Latin fetish. + +Latin in Board schools. + +Latin verses. + +Laugel, A.A. +--at x Club. +--meeting with. + +Law, abuse of the word. + +Lawrence, Lord. +--President of School Board. +--on Huxley's retirement. +--leaves School Board. + +Lawrence, Sir William. +--his book "On Man". +--acknowledgment of "Elementary Physiology". + +"Lay Sermons". +--published. +--popularity of. + +Lecky, W.E.H. +--letters to: +--on Hume: needless assertions and blunders. +--treatment of Irish history. +--books from: Irish leaders. + +Lectures. +--at Birmingham. +--at Bradford. +--on a Piece of Chalk. +--Croonian. +--on Cuttlefish. +--at Edinburgh. +--Fullerian. +--on the Hand. +--Hunterian. +--Introductory, to the course at the School of Mines. +--on Invertebrate Anatomy, in "Medical Times". +--at Leicester. +--London Institution. +--Persistent Types. +--Relation of Man to the Lower Animals. +--Royal Institution. +--at School of Mines. +--to working men. +--at Zoological Gardens. + +Lecturing, warnings about his early style. + +Leighton, Sir F., and literary honours. + +Leuckart, Professor, letter to: morphological work. + +Lewald, Fanny, autobiography of. + +Liberal education. + +Liberal Thinkers, Association of. + +Lichfield, native place of Thomas Huxley. + +Liddon, Canon. +--abuse of the word "law". +--sermon on "law" leads to article on pseudo-scientific realism. +--sermon in reply to "Lux Mundi" occasion of "The Lights of the Church +and the Light of Science". + +Life, compared to a whirlpool. + +Lilly, W.S., replies to. + +Linnean Medal awarded to Huxley. + +Linnean Society, elected to. + +"Literary Gazette", notice of Huxley in. + +Littlehampton. + +Littre, "Life of Comte". + +Liverpool. +--address before the Philomathic Society. +--address before Liverpool Institute. +--President British Association at. +--visit to slums. +--moral influence of commerce. + +Lockyer, Sir Norman, Science Editor of the "Reader". + +Logical consequences defined. + +London Hospital, address at. + +London Institution, lectures at, on physiography. + +London University. +--examiner at. +--science examinations at. +--on Senate of. + +London University Reform. + +Louisiade Archipelago. + +Lourdes, miracle of. + +Lowe, Robert (Lord Sherbrooke). +--thinks Huxley should be at the head of the Natural History +Collections. +--wishes him to be Trustee of the British Museum. + +Lubbock, Sir John (Lord Avebury). +--at Oxford, 1860. +--joins x Club. +--with Huxley in Brittany. +--presentation to, at Liverpool. + +Lucas, Mr., and the "Times" review of the "Origin". + +Lucretius. + +"Lux Mundi", controversy raised by. + +Lyell, Sir Charles. +--article on, by Owen. +--reads the "Origin" before publication. +--influence of the "Principles of Geology". +--supports Darwin. +--leads Huxley to take up ethnology. +--on editing the "Natural History Review". +--opinion of Huxley. +--description of his address at the Geological Society. +--Letters from: +--on popular lectures. +--to Sir C. Bunbury, species question. +--Letters to: +--on species. +--on skull measuring. +--on "Man's Place". +--reply to criticisms as to the simian brain: Darwin shows a vera causa +for evolution. +--simian brain. +--on women's education. +--on Labyrinthodonts. +--work on fossils, especially from Spitzbergen. + +Lynton, holiday at. + +Macclesfield, Samuel Huxley mayor of, in 1746. + +Macgillivray, John. + +Macleay, William Sharp. +--letter to, on English scientific world. + +M'Clure, Rev. E. +--letter to: motive to get at the truth in all things: immortality and +the conservation of energy: thought as a "function" of the brain: +origin of sin. + +MacWilliam, Dr., F.R.S. + +Madeira. + +Magee, Bishop. +--controversy with. +--end of. + +Malins, Vice-Chancellor, remarks on the suit brought against Huxley. + +Mallock, W.H., on Bathybius. + +Maloja. +--first visit to. +--second visit to. +--third visit to. +--memorial at. + +Manning, Cardinal, in Metaphysical Society. + +"Man's Place in Nature". +--criticisms and success of. +--a friend begs him not to publish. +--ridiculed. + +Mansel, Rev. H.L. + +Mantell, G.A. + +"Manual of Comparative Anatomy". + +"Manual of Invertebrate Anatomy". + +"Manual of Vertebrate Anatomy". + +Marine Biological Association. + +Mariner, on Tonga. + +Marsh, Professor O.C. +--at x Club. +--visit to. +--on Huxley's impartiality. +--supplies anecdote on advantage of breaking a leg. +--Letter from: on Huxley's welcome to him in England. +--Letters to: +--pedigree of the horse. +--later discoveries. +--his inexhaustible boxes. +--arrival in England. + +Marshall, Mr., of Buffalo, visit to. + +Martin, H.N. +--helps in the new science teaching. +--helps write "Elementary Instruction in Biology". +--American edition of the "Practical Biology". + +Martineau, James, in Metaphysical Society. + +Mary, Queen of Scots. + +Maskelyne, Neville Story. + +Mason College, opening of. + +Masson, David. +--at x Club. + +Materialism. +--accusation of. +--a sort of shorthand idealism. + +Maurice, F.D. +--first meeting with. +--and the Working Men's College. +--his philosophy. +--in Metaphysical Society. + +Maxwell, Colonel. + +May, George Anderson. + +May, Mrs., letter to: ill-health in youth. + +Mayer, Dr., assistant to Dr. Dohrn. + +Mayer. J.R., on conservation of energy. + +Mayne, Captain of the "Nassau". + +Medical education. +--correspondence in "Times". +--letter on preliminary liberal training. +--degrees. + +Men of science, the risks to be faced by. + +Mercers' Company and technical education. + +Metaphysical Society. +--foundation of. +--Mill's criticism of. +--mutual toleration. +--Huxley writes three papers for. +--the name "agnostic". +--his part in it. +--described by Professor H. Sidgwick. + +Miklucho-Maclay, on fish-brains. + +Milford, at. + +Mill, J.S. +--and International College. +--opinions condemned by Ward. +--burial of. + +Miller, Canon, on Huxley's retirement from the School Board. + +Milman, Canon, invites Huxley to opening of new buildings at Sion +College. + +Miracles. +--paper on. +--agrees with orthodox arguments against Hume. +--swine. +--miracles not denied as impossible. + +Mivart, Professor St. G. +--his statements about Suarez criticised. +--reminiscences. +--description of Huxley's lectures. +--Letter to: +--Darwin's character and friends: Galileo and the Pope. + +Moleschott. + +Mollusca, on the Morphology of the Cephalous. +--aim of this paper. + +Moral Sense. + +Morality and nature. + +Morley, Right Hon. John. +--at x Club. +--in Metaphysical Society. +--Letter from: on his "Physiography". +--Letters to: +--proposed book on Hume: article for the "Fortnightly". +--a "consistent bigamist" in writing for the magazines. +--possible cowardice in not publishing paper on miracles. +--on "Physiography". +--article for the "Fortnightly": "Dr. Dizzy" on sea air: Darwin's LL.D. +--invites him for New Year's day. +--Harvey article: controversy: foreign politics and the British lion. +--Hume: portrait: Tulloch's "Pascal": Clifford's character. +--thanks for "Diderot": want of a portrait: sketch of the "Hume": Hume +not half a sceptic. +--the "setting of Hume's diamonds": cannot judge his work in manuscript. +--working on the Life. +--Morley's criticism: division of the book. +--a critical symposium, proposed English Men of Science Series. +--on Spottiswoode. +--a Newcastle Society: the thought of extinction. +--proposed book on Berkeley. + +Morley, Samuel, on School Board. + +Motto of the family, "Tenax propositi". + +Moulton, F., to help in Men of Science Series. + +"Mr. Darwin's critics". + +Muir, Dr. John. + +Muller, Fritz. + +Muller, Johannes. +--on Holothuriae. +--his method. +--appreciation of. + +Muller, Professor Max, letter to: on Language as test of Race. + +Mundella, Right Hon. A.J. +--and technical education. +--Letter to: retiring pension. + +Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey. +--and experimental station. +--and the Schlagintweits. +--and geological amateur. +--on the "Physical Basis of Life". +--Letter from: +--on election to Athenaeum. + +Murray, John, on quarterlies. + +Murray, Sir J., theory of coral reefs. + +Museum of Practical Geology. +--post at. +--catalogue for. + +Museum, paleontological, ideal of. + +Museums. +--British. +--Manchester. +--Chester. +--Warwick. + +Napier, Sir Charles. +--described. + +Napoleon III., at the British Association. + +Nares, Sir G., Polar expedition. + +Nashville visited. + +"Nassau", H.M.S., exploring ship. + +National Association of Science Teachers, resigns presidency. + +Natura non facit saltum not true in evolution. + +"Natural History Review". + +Natural Selection. +--not weak of faith in. +--unlucky substitution of "survival of the fittest" for. +--produces state socialism. + +Naturalists' fund. + +"Nature". +--translates Goethe's "Aphorisms" for the first number. +--article "Past and Present," on twenty-fifth anniversary. +--after-dinner speech. + +Nautilus. + +Naval officers and scientific research. + +Neanderthal skull. + +Necessity. + +Nettleship, R.L., at Arolla. + +Newcastle, joins a society at. + +Newman, J.H. +--applied to for testimonial. +--his doctrine of development. +--Kingsley's opinion of. +--cited by Huxley. +--effect on, of Papistry. +--how to turn his attacks. + +Newport, George. +--as man of science. + +Newton, E.T., paleontologist to the Geological Survey. + +Newton, Sir Isaac. +--compared with Ptolemy. +--a "sport," +--and his title. + +Niagara. + +Nicholas, Dr., master of Ealing School. + +Nicholson, Dr., of Sydney. + +Nietzsche, means to read. + +Nordenskiold, fossils from Spitzbergen. + +Northumberland, Duke of (First Lord of the Admiralty). + +Norwich, Fishery Exhibition at. + +Oakley, Sir Herbert, vicar of Ealing. + +Objects of the sea-shore, letters on. + +"Oceanic Hydrozoa". +--loses priority by delay. +--still of use in 1867. + +Officers, retired, in administrative posts. + +Official work. +--growth of. +--climax of. + +Oken, his speculations. + +Oliver, Professor. + +Opinions which cannot be held "without grave personal sin". + +Optimism. + +"Origin of Species". +--effect of its publication. +--"a flash of light". +--review in "Times". +--criticism on the. +--influence of. +--"coming of age" of. +--difficulty of. +--and theory of evolution. + +Original sin and Darwinism. + +Orthodox Christianity, how regarded by many men of science. + +Osborn, Professor Henry Fairfield. +--reminiscences quoted. +--account of Huxley at Oxford, 1894. +--description of his lectures. +--impromptu lecturing. +--simian characteristics of infants, story of Huxley. + +Ossory, Mr., with Huxley in Egypt. + +Owen, Sir Richard. +--introduction to. +--visits. +--supports claims of Huxley. +--at the Geological Club. +--his pay. +--as man of science. +--his "Parthenogenesis". +--civility of. +--support for F.R.S. +--breach with. +--at Aberdeen British Association. +--his morphological speculations. +--the British Cuvier. +--style of, on the Ape question at Oxford. +--at Cambridge British Association. +--on air-cells of birds in flight. +--criticises Darwin on spontaneous generation. +--author of article on "Oken and the 'Archetype'". +--his books to be asked for by Dohrn. +--attack on Hooker. +--Mrs. Carlyle's saying about. +--death of. +--statue to. +--review of his work: a piece of antiquity. +--review of, in "Nature". + +Owens College. +--governor of. +--opening of. + +Oxford. +--compared with London. +--Huxley refuses Linacre Professorship. +--invited to accept Linacre Professorship a second time. +--invited to be master of University College. +--receives D.C.L. +--science at. +--letter on chair of English Literature. +--addresses at, a contrast. + +Oysters, on. + +Paget, Sir James. +--address from, at Medical Congress. +--supports London University Reform. + +Paleontology, work at. +--"The Method of Paleontology". +--rise and progress of. +--would have led to invention of evolutionary hypothesis. + +Paley, "Evidences", and argument from design. + +"Pangenesis". + +Pantheon, admiration of. + +Parker, T. Jeffery. +--on Huxley and the practical teaching of biology. +--teaching by types. +--persuades him to change course of teaching. +--and to alter biological course. +--"Encyclopaedia" work between H and L. +--impression of Huxley. +--as administrator. +--as lecturer. +--with his children. +--Letter to: +--book dedicated to him: renewed vigour: "cultivons notre jardin" the +whole duty of man. + +Parker, W.K. +--and the F.R.S. +--Letters to: +--bids him remodel his work on the Struthious skull. +--bird classification. +--the style of his Frog paper. +--work on the Amphibia. +--interest in the Invertebrata. + +Parnell, C.S. +--his great qualities. +--retirement. + +Parslow, Darwin's old butler. + +Pasteur, L., Huxley repeats his experiments on micro-organisms. +--Pasteur and pebrine. +--typical of the century? + +Pasteur Institute, letter to the Lord Mayor on. + +Paton, Miss, of St. Andrews. + +Pattison, Mark, in Metaphysical Society. + +Payne, J., on science in public schools. + +Payne, Dr. + +Pearson, Professor K., on Huxley's work in London University Reform. + +Peile, Dr., at Arolla. + +Pelseneer, Professor. +--letters to: +--intention to revise work on Mollusca. +--Molluscan morphology. +--completion of Spirula memoir. +--early morphological ideas confirmed: publication. + +Pelvis in Mammalia. + +Penmaenmawr, writes "Hume" at. + +Percy, Dr. John, at School of Mines. + +"Persistent Types". + +Pfluger, a physiological experiment. + +"Physical Basis of Life, On the". +--"the boldest act of his life". + +Physiography. +--lectures, inception of. +--lessons in. + +"Physiography". +--published. +--adapted in Germany. +--a boy's appreciation of. + +Physiology. +--study of, compared to the Atlantic. +--"Elementary Instruction in". + +Plants, sexes of, and Shakespeare. + +Plato, opinion of his philosophy. + +Playfair, Lyon (Lord Playfair). +--at School of Mines. +--on Fishery Commission. +--Vivisection Bill. + +Political Economy, method of. + +Pollock, H., at Lynton. + +Pollock, Dr. Julius. +--at Lynton. + +Pollock, W.F. +--on Committee of the "Reader". +--and Tyndall's absence. + +Port Essington. + +Positivism, the scientific aspects of. + +Possibilities and impossibilities. + +Posthumous fame. + +Poulton, Professor. +--letter to: +--Genesis and inspiration: Canon Driver's criticisms. + +"Pour le merite". + +Powell, Rev. Montague, on Huxley and the scientific docker. + +"Practical Biology", adapted for America. + +Practical life as a rule-of-three sum. + +Prestwich, Sir Joseph. +--his "Geology" and the Genesis controversy. +--Letters to: +--on presidency of Geological Society. +--the Privy Councillorship: temporal and other deserts. + +Price, Professor Bartholomew. +--letter to: +--D.C.L. +--gaps among friends. + +Priesthood, power of. + +Priestley, address on. + +Primer, Introductory. + +Primrose, H., dines with. + +Pritchard, Professor, and Metaphysical Society. + +Privy Councillorship. + +Promotion by seniority. + +Protest, a theological. + +Providence. + +Pseudo-Science. + +Psychology, projected introduction to. + +Ptolemy compared with Newton. + +"Punch". +--squib on the Ape question. +--cartoon of Huxley. + +Pupil teachers. + +Puritanism, in action and belief. + +Pusey, opposes D.C.L. for Froude and Huxley. + +Pye Smith, Dr. + +Pyrosoma, further observations on. + +Quain, Dr. Richard, President Royal College of Surgeons. + +Quakerism, rise of, compared to rise of Christianity. + +"Quarterly Review" attack on Darwin. + +Quekett, J.T., unfairly treated. + +Race and Language. + +Radiata, a zoological lumber-room. + +Ramsey, Sir A.C. + +Rankine, Professor. +--presentation to, at Liverpool. + +Ransom, Dr., indirectly determined his career. + +Rathbone, P.H., presides at the Sphinx Club dinner to Huxley. + +Rathbone, W., wishes to send Huxley on a visit to India. + +Rathke. + +"Rattlesnake", H.M.S. +--enters. +--quarters on. +--life on. +--voyage of. +--effect on Huxley's development. +--voyage of the, reviewed by Huxley. + +Ravenna. + +Ray Society. +--helps publish Huxley's early papers. +--translation of Haeckel's "Morphologie". + +"Reader", the. + +Reaumur. +--on the six-fingered Maltese. +--appreciation of. + +Reconcilers. + +Red Lion Club. + +Rede Lecture, on the Pearly Nautilus and Evolution. + +Reed, Sir Charles, on Huxley's retirement from the School Board. + +Reeks, Trenham, on the temperature of a letter from Tyndall. + +Reformation, the New. + +"Rehmes". + +Reid, Sir John Watt. +--at Haslar. +--advice. + +Religion and morality, defined. + +Religion for men. + +Renan, typical of the century? + +Rendu, on glaciers. + +Reptilia, fossil, memoirs on. + +Responsibility, illness and. + +Retirement. +--at the age of sixty. +--pension. +--remains Honorary Dean of College of Science. +--Civil List pension. + +Reville, Dr., attacked by Gladstone. + +Ribaldry, heterodox, worse than orthodox fanaticism. + +Rich, Anthony, legacy from. + +Richardson, Sir John. +--selects Huxley for scientific expedition. +--letter to: +--on work done during voyage. +--meets again. +--seeks portrait of. + +Rigg, Dr., on Huxley's retirement from School Board. + +Riley, Athelstan, attack on the compromise. + +Ripon, Bishop of, letter to: work and influence of men of science. + +Riviere, Briton, R.A., letter to: science training for his son. + +Roberts, Father, on Galileo and the Pope. + +Robinson, Dr. Louis, simian characteristics in infants. + +Rogers, Rev. William. +--at Sion house meeting. +--letter to: +--on physiography lectures. + +Roller, Mrs. +--letters to: +--Roman architecture: Catacombs. +--endless sights of Rome. +--Florence. +--French women and French dishes: +--superiority of the male figure. +--money and a new house. +--birthday letters: good looks as a child. +--love of children: the "just man who needeth no repentance" as a +father. +--"the epistle of Thomas". + +Rolleston, Professor G. +--visit to. +--work on the simian brain. +--characterised. +--teaches biology by types. +--death of. +--asked to succeed. +--Letter to: +--his recovery. + +Roman Catholics and physical science. + +Romanes, Professor G.J. +--evolution of intellect from sense. +--interpretations of Darwin. +--fatal illness of. +--Letters to: +--on his refusal to join Association of Liberal Thinkers. +--his obituary of Darwin for "Nature". +--alleged presupposition of design in evolution: liars and authors +should have long memories. +--experimental evolution. +--illness of: type of the empire and Home Rule. +--adumbration of the Romanes Lecture: Madeira. +--his poems: a wife-comrade: a religion for men: Tennyson poem. +--the Romanes Lecture: a doubtful promise. +--ready to act as substitute for Gladstone: subject. +--Gresham University scheme: payment for lecture. +--limits of the subject. +--proofs seen by Romanes. +--dangers of. +--illness of friends: the approach of death. + +Romanes, Mrs. +--a "chirrupping" acceptance of an invitation. +--Letter to: +--publication of the "chirrupping" letter: refrains from "touching a +wound he cannot heal". +--guards against possible misrepresentations in the letter. + +Romanes Lecture. +--theme of, anticipated in the "Struggle for Existence". +--special inducement. +--letters on. +--criticisms on. +--description of. + +Rome. + +Roscoe, Sir Henry. +--letter to: +--on Science Primers. +--advice to stay at Owens College. +--British Association 1872: health: Primers. +--appointments at Owens College. +--tour in Auvergne. +--opening of Owens College. +--on Men of Science Series. +--second sketch of Introductory Science Primer. +--on his knighthood. +--attack of pleurisy. +--technical education. +--sectarian training colleges. + +Rosebery, Lord. +--letters to: +--a deputation on London University reform. +--a contretemps at a public dinner. + +Ross, Sir James, meeting with. + +Rosse, Lord, P.R.S., his help. + +Rousseau. + +Royal College of Science, to be kept clear of new University scheme. + +Royal Society. +--and Huxley's early papers. +--elected Fellow. +--nearly receives Royal Medal. +--elected on Council. +--Medal. +--his work as Secretary. +--duties of Secretary. +--resignation of Presidency. +--admission of medical men. +--evening meetings and smoking. +--politics and the Presidency. +--federation scheme. +--dealings with Huxley. +--alleged ignoring of distinguished men. +--Fee Reduction Fund. + +Rucker, Professor, and new University scheme. + +Ruskin, breach of confidence touching a letter of his. + +Rutherford, Professor, helps in the new science teaching. + +Sabine, Colonel. +--and the Schlagintweits. +--and Darwin's Copley Medal. + +Sacramental food. + +St. Andrews, Lord Rectorship. + +St. Andrews, sends his son to. + +St. Thomas' Hospital, lectures at. + +Salisbury, Lord. +--interview with, on literary and scientific honours. +--seconds vote of thanks to, as President of the British Association. +--criticism in "Nature". + +Salmon Disease. +--Memoir on. + +Salmon, their "playground". + +Salpa. +--aim of his work on. +--anticipated in. + +Salters' Company, present Huxley with their freedom. + +Salvation Army. +--controversy, origin. +--progress of. + +Samuelson, Mr., letter to: on clerical attacks. + +Sanderson, Sir Burdon. +--Vivisection Bill. +--discussion with Tyndall. +--dines with. + +Sandon, Lord, leaves School Board. + +Sandys, J.E. +--his speech presenting Huxley for LL.D. at Cambridge. +--letter to: +--"tenax propositi". + +Satan, the prince of this world. + +"Saturday Review" science in. + +Sauropsida. + +Savages, interview with. + +Savigny. +--his observations on Salpa supplemented. +--his morphological method adopted. + +Schlagintweit, the brothers. + +Schmitz, Dr. L., head of International College. + +Schomburgk, Sir Richard. + +School Board. +--work on. +--his campaign continued in "Administrative Nihilism". +--compromise, letters on. +--Diggleite attack on the compromise. + +Schurman, Professor, on design in evolution. + +Science and Agriculture. + +Science and Art Department. +--lectures for. +--value of examinations. +--examinations. + +"Science and Art in Relation to Education". + +Science. +--and creeds. +--and its prophets. + +"Science and Culture". + +"Science and Religion, Truthfulness in". + +"Science at Sea". + +Science. +--in public schools. +--in elementary schools. +--the great tragedy of. +--definition of. +--at Oxford. + +Science, Biological, and Medicine. + +Science Primers begun. + +Science teachers, need of. + +Science teaching: scheme for the International College. + +"Scientific Education". + +Scientific missionaries. + +Scott, D.H., extends text-book on Biology. + +Scott, John Godwin. + +Scott, Mrs. J.G. (Eliza Huxley). +--visit to. +--Letters to: +--prospects of "Rattlesnake" voyage. +--first scientific memoir. +--engagement. +--last cruise and Kennedy's expedition. +--return and ambitions. +--character of Forbes. +--death of his mother: first lecture: irony of his position. +--Royal Medal: people he can deal with. +--Science and Mammon. +--rounds the Cape Horn of his life. +--position in 1858. +--his home in 1859. +--his reputation: slavery. + +Sea serpent, letters on. + +Selborne, Lord, in Metaphysical Society. + +Sensation, lecture on. + +Seth, Professor. +--letters to: +--thanks for understanding him: conditions of Romanes Lecture: Faraday +on popular audiences. +--Prolegomena: Spinoza. + +Sexton, T., and Parnell. + +Shaftesbury, Lord. +--quotes Huxley's definition of religion and morality. +--charges him with advocating vivisections before children. +--letter from. + +Sharpey, Dr. William. +--help from. +--Secretary Royal Society till 1871. +--Vivisection Bill. + +"Shehretz". + +Sidgwick, Wm. C., rebuke to the "Speaker". + +Sin, origin of. + +Sinclair, Sir J.G.T., letter to: on Babbage's calculating machine. + +Sion College. +--meeting. +--declines to attend opening of new buildings at. + +Skelton, Sir John. +--visits. +--Letters to: +--"Noctes Ambrosianae". +--advantage of quasi-Scotch nationality: the Hermitage too pleasant for +work. +--biography and fiction: conscience and letter writing. +--dinner and discussion. +--"The Crookit Meg", a reference to Huxley. +--introduction to Tyndall. +--Mary Stuart and the Casket Letters. +--Gladstone as controversialist. +--nature and suffering. +--historians and practical discipline: an antagonist "rouses his +corruption". +--the Casket Letters. +--retirement from London. +--limitations of the Romanes Lecture, mending the irremediable. + +Skull. +--theory of the Vertebrate. +--further investigations. + +Slavery. + +Smalley, G.W. +--Huxley in New York harbour. +--description of him as a lecturer. +--his friends and talk. + +Smith, Robertson, at x Club. + +Smith, Sir William. +--and International College. +--effect of the name "vivisection". + +Smith, Right Hon. W.H., Bible-reading in Schools. + +Smyth, W. Warington, death of. + +Snakes, lecture on. + +Socialism, State, and natural selection. + +Societies and ladies. + +Society and societies. + +Society for the propagation of common honesty. + +Society of Arts, speech at. + +"Speaker", the insinuations of, rebuked. + +Species and sterility. + +"Spectator", on "Pope Huxley". + +Spedding, James. +--influence of Huxley's accuracy in style. +--Letter from: +--on Bacon. + +Bacon's influence compared with Huxley's. + +Spencer, Herbert. +--and evolution. +--joins x Club. +--fondness for music. +--philosophy. +--on Comte. +--"devil's advocate". +--his comparison of the body politic to the body physical criticised. +--criticises "Administrative Nihilism". +--controversy not inconsistent with friendship. +--a regular New Year's guest. +--his philosophy found wanting by a youthful Punjaubee. +--vigour of. +--philosophical opposition to. +--correspondence on absolute ethics. +--psychology based on use-inheritance. +--frankness to. +--plays racquets with. +--authority on music. +--Letters from: +--will not break through custom of sending him proofs. +--urges him to answer Lilly. +--sends proofs to him as an "omnivorous reader". +--Letters to: +--his review of the "Archetype". +--"First Principles". +--distention of birds' air-cells during flight. +--animals and plants: Tyndall's favourite problem: "gynopathy". +--patience in discussions. +--dry facts only at Edinburgh lectures: Moses and a visit to town. +--on George Eliot and Westminster Abbey. +--thanks for his photograph. +--acceptance of P.R.S. +--on Creation controversy. +--influence of conditions. +--reads proofs of his Autobiography. +--use-inheritance. +--disinclined to reply to Mr. Lilly. +--the plot succeeds. +--his own boyhood. +--reply to Mr. Lilly: abuse of the word "Law": Victorian science. +--Imperial Institute. +--death of his daughter. +--retrospect of their first meeting: clears up possible +misunderstanding about London Liberty League. +--a visit to, postponed: defensive position in controversy. +--forgetfulness of past events: a sweeping criticism. +--jests on his recent activity: himself unlike Samson. +--some consolation for old age. +--return from Maloja. + +Sphinx Club, Liverpool, dinner to Huxley. + +Spinoza. +--memorial to. +--debt to. + +Spiritualism. +--experiments in. +--if true, an additional argument against suicide. +--report on seance. + +Spirula, work on. + +Spitzbergen, fossils from. + +Spontaneous generation. +--and Darwinism. +--recipe for. + +Spottiswoode, William. +--and x Club. +--visit to. +--character of. +--death. + +Stanley, Dean. +--handwriting. +--death of. +--on George Eliot's funeral. +--men of science. +--on being made a bishop. +--historical impressionability. +--repartee, the priests and the prophets. + +Stanley, Lord. + +Stanley, Lord, of Alderley, memorial to Carlyle. + +Stanley, Owen, captain of "Rattlesnake". + +Stanley, Mrs. Owen. + +State, comparison with the body. + +State, the, and the medical profession. + +Steffens, Father, friendship with. + +Stephen, Sir Leslie. +--in Metaphysical Society. +--on Huxley and his home life. +--Letter to: +--separation from friends: +--deafness: morality in the cosmos. + +Stephenson, G. + +Stewart, Professor Balfour, editor of Science Primers. + +Stocks, John Ellerton. + +Stokes, Sir G.G. +--presentation to, at Liverpool. +--Letter from: +--Parliament and the Presidency of the Royal Society. +--Letters to. + +Strachey, E. + +Strachey, Sir R., appreciation of. + +Strauss, on the Resurrection. + +Struthers, Professor, visits. + +Style. +--influence of his. +--cannot judge of his own compositions in manuscript. +--the first pages of an essay the chief trouble. + +Suarez, his teaching examined. + +Suicide, moral. + +Sulivan, Captain, at Falkland Islands. + +Sunday evening gatherings. +--impression on friends. + +Sunday Society, unable to support prominently while P.R.S. + +Supernaturalism. + +Sydenham College. + +Sydney, projected chair of Natural History at. + +Sylvester, Professor. + +Tait, Professor. +--reconciliation with Tyndall. +--makes Huxley play golf. + +Taylor, Miss H., criticism of "Administrative Nihilism". + +Taylor, Canon Isaac, language and race. + +Taylor, Robert. +--Christianity compared to Babism. +--Letter to: +--success of Christianity and the story of Christ. + +Teachers, lectures to. + +Technical Education. +--address on. +--continuation of his work on the School Board. +--Report to the Guilds. +--engineers the City and Guilds Institute. +--supply of teachers, speech at the Society of Arts. +--buildings. +--letter on his aims. +--relation of industry to science. +--Imperial Institute. +--letters to "Times". +--campaign interrupted by pleurisy. +--at Manchester in the autumn. + +Technical education in agriculture. + +Teeth, writes on. + +Tegumentary organs, article on. + +Teleology, see also s.v. Design + +"Tenax propositi". + +Tenby. +--survey work at. +--fossil forest at. + +Tennessee, on the geology of. + +Tennyson. +--"Ode on Wellington". +--in Metaphysical Society. +--death of. +--visits to. +--scientific insight of. +--his talk. +--insensibility to music. +--on Browning's music. +--funeral. +--poem on. +--Letter to: +--thanks for "Demeter": envies his vigour. + +Tenterden, Lady, at Lynton. + +Tethea, on the anatomy of. + +Theism, philosophical difficulties of. + +Theological doctrines, truth underlying. + +Theology, sentimental. + +Thompson, Sir Henry, on Clifford's illness. + +Thomson, Archbishop. +--on modern thought and Positivism. +--and Metaphysical Society. + +Thomson, John, surgeon on the "Rattlesnake". + +Thomson, Joseph, description of Huxley's lectures at Edinburgh. + +Thomson, Sir W. (Lord Kelvin), reconciliation with Tyndall. + +Thomson, Sir Wyville. +--and Bathybius. +--his course at Edinburgh taken by Huxley. +--criticism of Darwin. + +Thorpe, Professor, and new University scheme. + +Thought, as a "function" of the brain. + +"Times". +--review of the "Origin" in. + +Title, rumoured acceptance of. + +Titles, for men of science. + +Todd, Dr. R.B., gives up professorship at Kings College. + +"Todd's Cyclopaedia", writes for. + +Tollemache, A., at x Club. + +Tomes, Sir John. + +Toronto, stands for professorship at. + +Training colleges, sectarian. + +Trevelyan, Sir C., Under-Secretary Treasury. + +Treviranus, not studied by Huxley before 1859. + +Trigonia, on the animal of. + +Truth. +--transatlantic discovery of. +--Huxley a fanatic for. + +Tug, story of. + +Tulloch, Principal. + +Turner, W., an appointment to Calcutta Museum. + +Tyndall, Mrs. +--letters to: +--duties of a married daughter. +--forgetfulness. +--an invitation to lunch. + +Tyndall, John. +--rejected, like Huxley, at Toronto. +--Physics for "Saturday Review". +--joint paper on Glacier Ice. +--joins School of Mines. +--friendship. +--a "madcap" Alpinist. +--on Committee of the "Reader". +--in Wales with. +--takes Waverley Place house. +--favourite problem in molecular physics. +--and x Club. +--receives Edinburgh LL.D. with Huxley. +--joins in drawing up scheme of science teaching in schools. +--in Metaphysical Society. +--presentation to, at Liverpool. +--discussion with B. Sanderson. +--a constant New Year's guest. +--action of Association of Liberal Thinkers. +--vigour of. +--visit to. +--death of. +--Letters from: +--unable to join in trip to the Eifel. +--on clerical attacks. +--on proposed visit to India. +--on opposition to his Presidency of the British Association. +--wasted sympathy. +--Letters to: +--Toronto. +--elected F.R.S. +--on a London career. +--science reviews in "Westminster". +--letter from colleagues in England. +--at his marriage. +--the Brenoa: end of Swiss trip. +--on joining School of Mines. +--on Jamaica affair. +--on working-men's lecture at British Association: reconciliation with +Thomson and Tait. +--resignation of Fullerian lectureship. +--resigning lectureship at School of Mines. +--Liverpool British Association. +--an electrical disturbance. +--his lecture at Liverpool meeting of British Association. +--a letter to "Nature": his breakdown. +--trip to Egypt: ascent of Vesuvius. +--the new teaching of biology: Hooker's affair. +--ill-health, and the fine air of St. John's Wood: Tyndall's visit to +America. +--a loan. +--possibility of marriage. +--the New Year in the new house: Tyndall's "English accent": character +of Hirst: Lord Rector of Aberdeen. +--tour in Auvergne. +--controversy about Forbes: +--walks with his young son: receives Order of the Pole Star. +--opposition to his Presidency of the British Association: a letter at +high temperature: Blauvelt's "Modern Skepticism". +--the Forbes controversy: British Association at Belfast. +--excuses for undertaking unnecessary work: subject of Belfast address, +Spinoza memorial: pay at Edinburgh: possible sons-in-law. +--examines micro-organisms. +--offers to lecture for: "bottled life". +--on his daughter's recovery. +--to take Boyle in English Men of Science Series. +--own capacity as an editor: Clifford's illness. +--begs him to avoid "avalanches of work". +--friendship and criticism, apropos of science review in "Nineteenth +Century". +--a confession +--dinner in honour of. +--Lord Granville's sarcastic sweetness. +--confused with him in the popular mind. +--Tennyson's funeral. +--effect of influenza: addresses at Oxford: dying by inches. + +"Universities, Actual and Ideal". + +University, Johns Hopkins. +--address at: "Trustees have sometimes made a palace and called it a +university". +--ideal of. +--government by professors only. + +Use-inheritance. +--disbelief in. +--in plants. + +Variation, the key to the Darwinian theory. + +Varigny, H. de. +--letters to: +--his essays translated into French: love of his native tongue. +--later volume not interesting to French public: experimental proof of +specific infertility. + +Vermes, a zoological lumber-room. + +"Vestiges of Creation". + +Vesuvius, ascent of. + +Virchow, Professor. +--(in Huxley lecture), influence of the "Rattlesnake" voyage. +--on Huxley's ethnological work. +--at Medical Congress. + +Vivisection. +--Lord Shaftesbury's charges. +--W.E. Forster and South Kensington lectures. +--personal feelings on. +--Bills. +--fox-hunting legislators. +--experiment and original research. +--Commission on. +--Harvey article. + +Vogt, Karl. + +Von Willemoes Suhm and Ceylon Museum. + +Wace, Dr., attacks agnosticism. + +Wales, H.R.H., Prince of. +--admitted to Royal Society. +--unveils Darwin statue. + +Walker, Alfred, letter to: local museums. + +Walking, his holiday recreation. + +Wallace, A.R. +--starts Darwin. +--Civil List Pension. +--Letter from: friendship with Huxley. + +Waller, Mrs. F.W. +--letters to: +--numbers at Edinburgh lectures: suggests a new friend. +--Afghan War of 1878: Indian Empire a curse. +--avoidance of congresses. +--acceptance of P.R.S. +--portrait at the Royal Academy: family news. +--loss of her child. +--a Christmas function. + +Walpole, Sir Spencer. +--on Huxley as Fishery Inspector. +--kindness from, in Italy. + +Walpole, Sir Spencer H., Vivisection Bill. + +Ward, Dr. +--his former examiner. +--passed over in favour of Huxley for Royal Society. + +Ward, T.H., visit to. + +Ward, Mrs. T.H. +--letter to: +--thanks for "Robert Elsmere". + +Ward, W. +--table-talk of Huxley, especially on the "Foundations of Belief". +--other reminiscences of his talk. + +Ward, W.G. +--in Metaphysical Society. +--saying about Mill's opinions. + +Warwick, lectures at. + +"Water-Babies, The". +--letter to his grandson about. + +Waugh, Rev. Benjamin. +--impression of Huxley on the School Board. + +Welby, Lady. +--letters to: +--life compared to a whirlpool: human tendency to make idols: "devils +advocate" to H. Spencer. +--speculation and fact. +--truthfulness in science and religion. + +Welcker, Dr. H. +--on his ethnological work. + +Weldon, Professor. +--letters to: +--ideal of a modern university. +--organisation of new university. + +Wellington, Duke of, funeral. +--on speaking. + +Westlake, John, Q.C. +--a working-men's meeting. + +"Westminster Review", writes for. + +Whales. + +Whewell, "History of Scientific Ideas". + +Wilberforce, Bishop, on Darwinism. + +Winmarleigh, Lord, on Vivisection Commission. + +Withers, Rachel, mother of T.H. Huxley (See Huxley). + +"Witness", the, on the Ape question. + +Wollaston, T.V., and species. + +Women. +--medical education of. +--in public life. + +Women's education. + +Woodward, S.P., and geological amateur. + +Working-Men's College. +--(Lectures. See Lectures). +--address at, on "Method of Zadig". + +Working-Men's Institute. + +Wright, Dr., editor of "Natural History Review". + +x Club. +--founded. +--history. +--compared to The Club. +--jealousy of. +--gaps in. + +Yale, fossils in museum. + +Youmans, Dr. +--at x Club. +--meeting with. + +Young, Lord, dines with. + +Yule, Commander, succeeds Owen Stanley. + +"Zadig, Method of". + +Zoological Gardens. + +Zoological Society. + + +THE END. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY VOLUME 3 *** + +This file should be named 5799.txt or 5799.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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